A Start of A New Life
by ReadMyPaige
Summary: Ryan and his little sister Elena get a start of a new life when they are brought in by the Cohens' after their mother kicked them out. There is spanking in this story for Discipline not abuse! Dont like it, don't read it. My friend Mary and I are writing this together! Reviews appreciated! thanks!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: My friend Mary and I are writing this together! We own nothing but our own characters!

Ryan Atwood and Sandy Cohen stood on the concrete pavement outside of the Chino Juvenile Detention Center, waiting for the arrival of Ryan's mother.

"My office will contact you to remind you the date for your hearing," Sandy said, setting his briefcase next to him.

"I'll remember," Ryan murmured.

All of a sudden, the brakes of a car screeched and a large, white, beat up old car pulled up in front of them. Ryan sighed as his mother emerged out of the car, a cigarette in one hand and a pair of sunglasses in the other.

"Unbelievable. What kind of family I got, huh? What the hell did I do to deserve this family, you wanna tell me that?" She screamed coldly, flailing her arms as though to emphasize her point. Sandy clasped his hands together tightly before taking a step towards the seething woman.

"Hello, Mrs. Atwood? I'm Sandy Cohen, Ryan's attorney."

"You should've let him rot in there," she responded, looking at Ryan pointedly as she took a drag of her cigarette. "Just like his dad did. Just like his brother's gonna."

All of a sudden, a small blonde girl popped her head out of the car. "Ryan!" She cried, extending her arms out to him. She reached her arm over and unlocked the car door before throwing it open and sprinting towards him.

"Dammit, Lena!" Dawn spat. "I told you to stay in the car."

"Elena," he said softly, enveloping the little girl in his arms. She smiled as she embraced him, clearly elated to see him. "Um, Mr. Cohen." Ryan cleared his throat, "This is..this is my little sister, Elena."

His features softened as he looked down at the little girl. "Nice to meet you," he smiled warmly, taking the little girls hand. "I'm Sandy."

"You too," she giggled.

"We have to go," Dawn interrupted, rolling her eyes.

Ryan and Sandy exchanged glances as the woman slipped her sunglasses on and climbed into the old, beat up car. The engine roared to life as she screamed, "let's go! Now! I don't have all God damn day."

Elena climbed into the backseat but before Ryan was able to, Sandy stopped him.

"Hey," He said softly as he reached in his pocket and pulled out a business card and pen. "I'm gonna give you my card - my home number. Y'know, if you need somebody. If things get to be too much, call me."

He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked down at the card, clearly taken back. Before he was able to respond, Dawn honked the horn and shouted. "Let's go!"

He quickly shoved the piece of paper into his pocket and yelled back, "alright!" before climbing into the car and driving off.

Five minutes later, Ryan, Elena and Dawn walked through the front door of the dingy, old house that reeked of smoke, booze and old take-out. AJ was sprawled out on the couch as usual, puffing away on a cigarette and watching a college basketball game while Dawn practically bolted to the liquor cabinet and Elena disappeared into her room. Ryan stood by the front door, looking at his mother expectantly, almost as though he was waiting for her to berate him yet again. She pulled out a bottle of scotch and a glass, pouring herself some.

"I can't do this anymore, Ryan." She said, letting out a shaky breath before downing her glass.

"I'm sorry, mom." He responded, his eyes glued to the floor.

"I want you out of my house. I want you out!"

"B-but mom," he stammered. "Where am I gonna go?"

"You heard your mother, man." AJ piped up from his spot on the couch. "Get your stuff and get out."

"Hey, this isn't your house, man." Ryan retorted

"Ryan?" A small voice came from the hallway leading into the living room. "What's going on?"

"Elena, go back into your room!" Dawn demanded, taking another swig of her scotch.

"What are you, a tough guy now?" AJ said, standing up and taking a step towards Ryan.

"AJ, don't." Dawn pleaded. "Ryan, just get out."

"Why don't you worry about your own kids, AJ? Instead of freeloading off my mom?"

Before Ryan even knew what was happening, AJ's fist connected with his jaw. Ryan failed to get a clear shot at AJ and fell back against the recliner as AJ continued to punch him.

"Stop it!" Elena cried out, running towards AJ and pounding her fists against his back as he continued to hit Ryan. Ryan collapsed to the ground, his face covered with blood. AJ reached back and slapped Elena square in the face causing Dawn to fall to her knees, sobbing as her two children lay on the ground. AJ stood up and stumbled into the kitchen, pouring a glass of scotch and downing it.

Elena crawled over to Ryan and pulled a blanket off of the couch, dabbing at his face with it as a tear slipped down her cheek.

"Are you okay?" She sobbed, looking down at her older brother.

"Shh," he whispered soothingly, brushing away her tears with the pad of his thumb. "I'm fine. Just..help me up?"

"Yeah," Elena sniffled, reaching her arm out and slowly helping him to his feet. He didn't even look in the direction of his so-called mother - he simply limped into his bedroom and pulled a duffle bag out, throwing whatever he could fit into it.

"Ry..Ryan," Elena sobbed as she stepped into his room. "You're not going, are you?"

"I have to, Lena." He said, taking a step towards his little sister.

"You can't!" She cried. "I hate it here. I hate..them. Let me come with you. Please."

Ryan paused before whispering, "pack your bag and meet me by the front door in two minutes."

Elena stopped crying almost instantly and bolted into her room while Ryan slung his bag over his shoulder and walked into the living room. AJ had resumed his spot on the couch while Dawn was sitting at the kitchen counter, puffing away on a cigarette. Elena emerged from her bedroom, a sleeping bag in one arm and a suitcase in the other.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Their mother slurred, taking a step towards them.

"I'm going with Ryan," she said, taking a hold of his hand.

"No, you're not. You're a child."

"So, what?" Ryan began. "You're just going to wait another six years and then kick her out? You aren't a mother to her and you never have been."

"Watch it," Dawn warned.

"I want to go." Elena said calmly.

"I don't give a shit what you want," Dawn said as she stumbled over to the kitchen table. She paused, as though she was considering it, before finally saying. "Fine. Go ahead. You want to take her? Be my guest. But when you realize just how much shit I go through on a day to day basis…how hard it is to be a parent..don't come crawling back to me, okay? Got it?" She hiccupped.

"Got it," Ryan said coldly, narrowing his eyes at his mother. "Let's go, Lena." He whispered, taking his little sisters hand. With that, they walked out the front door and out of their mother's life.

Roughly a half hour later, Elena found herself sitting on the hot pavement as her brother dialed the number of countless people, asking - no, pleading for a place to crash. Seven phone calls and five dollars later, nothing.

"Look, man, I just..I need a place to stay," he said into the phone, the desperation evident in his voice. He listened to the person on the other end speak before taking the phone and throwing it against the hook. He pounded his fists on the booth out of frustration, causing Elena to flinch.

"Ryan, stop it." She said, her voice cracking. She stood up, slowly walked towards him and wrapped her arms around his waist in an attempt to calm him down - something that usually worked.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly.

"It's not your fault." She responded.

Suddenly, realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He reached his hand into his back pocket and pulled out the small, crumbled up business card. He knew the odds of a public defender of all people taking him in were probably slim to none but there was something about Sandy that made Ryan believe otherwise.


	2. Chapter 2

Kirsten Cohen stood at the island in the middle of her kitchen, drumming her fingers against the granite counter as she listened to her husband spout off reasons why allowing a juvenile delinquent he barely knew under their roof was acceptable.

"No, Sandy. No." She said for the third time.

"They're children, Kirsten. I'm not going to kick them out on the street. They have nowhere else to go."

"What happens if this is all a scam, huh? What if he's just using you to case the house?

"Kirsten," he said, exasperated. "He's a kid, not a criminal mastermind. Come on, when did you become so cynical?"

"When did you become so self-righteous?"

"I've always been self-righteous," he said, shrugging his shoulders. She simply rolled her eyes in response before brushing past him.

"Where are you going?"

"To put my jewelry in the vault," she deadpanned. "Where do you think I'm going? They're going to need fresh sheets and a toothbrush."

Sandy smiled, clearly satisfied with himself, before disappearing out front to find Ryan and Elena. When he walked outside, however, Ryan was nowhere to be found. He knocked on the window of the car lightly, causing Elena to jump slightly.

He smiled warmly at her, as if to let her know everything was okay, before peaking his head in the car. "Where's your brother?"

"Oh," her eyes widened. "Um..I think..he went..for a walk or something."

"A walk?" He said in disbelief. "Hey..why don't you grab your bag and sleeping bag out of the car, okay?"

Elena nodded her head in acknowledgment as Sandy began walking down the driveway in search of Ryan. When he reached the end of the driveway, he spotted him approaching out of the corner of his eye. He narrowed his eyes at him, clearly suspicious.

He looked like a deer caught in headlights as he shoved what appeared to be a pack of cigarettes into his pocket.

Sandy sighed and shook his head. "C'mon," he said, clapping his shoulder. "I'll take you to the pool house. And hey, no smoking those in the house. Got it?"

Sandy, Ryan and Elena walked into the pool house side by side where Kirsten and their housekeeper were already waiting for them.

"Hello!" Kirsten said, sounding surprisingly cheerful given her and Sandy's previous conversation. "You must be Ryan and..Elena, right?" They both nodded but didn't say anything. "Welcome to our home."

"Thank you," Ryan said gruffly, giving his little sister a light shove to let her know to do the same.

She looked up at Ryan and scowled before looking back at Kirsten and shyly saying, "thank you."

"Oh, and this is Rosa - if you need anything, you can feel free to let her know."

They all stood in the middle of the room as an awkward silence settled upon them.

"Can I take a shower?" She asked suddenly, looking up at Ryan. He responded by nudging her with his elbow and whispering, "don't be rude."

"No, no, of course - c'mon, I'll show you where everything is. Do you have PJ's?" Kirsten asked, extending her hand out to the little girl.

Elena nodded in response before taking Kirsten's hand and walking into the bathroom with her.

Kirsten stood on her tippy toes as she opened up the medicine cabinet and pulled out a brand new toothbrush from the pack. She set it above the sink along with a tube of toothpaste and a freshly cleaned towel.

"I'm glad I can finally use these," she said, gesturing towards the toothbrushes. "I bought them for guests but —"

She looked down at the little girl, who looked painfully disinterested, and shook her head.

"Never mind," Kirsten sighed. "Well..there's a towel, toothbrush, and there is shampoo, conditioner and a few boxes of soap in that bottom drawer. If you need anything, you just let me know. Okay?"

"Okay," she replied meekly, taking a step towards the sink.

Kirsten scurried out of the bathroom, leaving Elena to herself. As she rounded the corner, she saw Ryan sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor. He looked sad and vulnerable - scared, even.

"Is everything okay?" Kirsten asked, her maternal instincts kicking in.

He jumped slightly at the sound of her voice, clearly a bit startled. "Yeah."

"I told your si - I told Elena that I put a toothbrush and some towels in the bathroom for you guys. And there are some freshly cleaned sheets," she said, gesturing towards the pile of neatly folded material sitting on the arm of the chair.

"Oh," he cleared his throat. "Thank you."

"Did Sandy leave?"

"Yeah."

She wrung out her hands as she looked down. "Well..I'll leave you alone. There is cereal and milk in the kitchen so you guys can feel free to help yourselves to breakfast in the morning. My son, Seth, will probably be around all day if you need help finding anything."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Goodnight, Ryan."

"'Night."

"Oh, come on!" Seth bellowed, throwing his remote to the ground. "Did I seriously just get beat by a twelve year old?"

"I'm ten," Elena corrected, causing Ryan to snort.

"Oh, even better." Seth said dryly as he shoved a spoonful of Frosted Flakes into his mouth.

"Good morning!" Sandy's voice called out from the living room entrance. "I see you three have met."

"Yep." Seth replied, setting his now empty bowl on the coffee table.

"You guys gonna do something today?" Sandy asked.

"It's up to Ryan."

"What is there to do around here exactly?"

"Well..we could go to the boardwalk?" Seth said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Why don't you see if Summer wants to come, too?" Sandy suggested, buttoning the cuff of his dress shirt. Seth smiled bashfully and looked down, shaking his head.

"No, I don't think so."

Ryan looked up at Sandy and then over at Seth. "Who's Summer?"

"She's just..a girl I kinda started seeing..I don't know if it's going to go anywhere but -"

"Seth, don't be modest." He said before looking down at Ryan and Elena. "He's been in love with her for as long as I can remember - it was always Summer that and Summer this and then -"

"Dad!" Seth interrupted, his cheeks bright red. "Stop."

"So she's your girlfriend, then?" Elena countered, her eyes wide with excitement and interest.

"We haven't really talked about i -"

"See? Elena wants to meet her." Sandy said with a wry smile.

He reached into his pocket and pulled his cell phone out. "Fine. You want me to call her? I'll call her right now."

Ryan and Elena watched in amusement as Seth furiously pressed the numbers on the phone and pressed it to his ear.

"Don't mind him," Sandy whispered. "It's his first girlfriend and he's just a little shy."

"Hey, Summer." Seth said sweetly into the phone. "Um, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to..you know, hang out or something. I mean, with me and my, uh -" He looked over at Ryan with wide eyes, mouthing "what are you guys?"

"Your..cousins?" Ryan mouthed back.

"My cousins." Seth said, a small smile forming on his face. "Oh. Okay, yeah..in like an hour? Alright. Bye."

Sandy, Elena and Ryan looked at Seth expectantly as a smug smile formed on his face. "She said yes."

"See, son?" Sandy smiled. "That wasn't so bad."

"Okay, I'm gonna go throw some clothes on..meet you guys out front?" He said, looking down at Ryan and Elena. They both nodded and Seth disappeared upstairs.

"Well, I gotta head to work." Sandy said, smiling at the two of them. "Have fun."

An hour and a half later, Seth and Summer walked down the boardwalk hand in hand in search of somewhere to eat while Ryan and Elena followed closely behind them. They finally settled on some dingy little restaurant about a block from where they parked. They took a seat at a booth near the window and ordered a few orders of fries and some burgers.

"So.." Summer said, taking a sip of her unsweetened tea. "How are you guys related again?"

"My Aunt..Linda..her son..and daughter..are them." Seth finished awkwardly, causing Ryan and Elena to stifle a giggle.

"Your mom's side or your dad's side?"

"Mom -" "Dad -" Ryan and Seth said at the same time.

"His mom..my dad." Seth nodded.

Summer narrowed her eyes at him as though she didn't believe him. "Really?"

"Yes, really."

"How come I've never heard of your Aunt Linda?"

"Oh, look at that, our food!" Seth said, gesturing towards the approaching waitress.

The waitress distributed the food and they all ate in relative silence for about five minutes until Elena announced she had to go to the bathroom. Summer took her hand and told her she'd walk with her, leaving Ryan and Seth at the table by themselves.

"Why don't you just tell her, man?" Ryan asked, taking a bite of his burger. "It's not a big deal."

"Ugh, I don't know." Seth groaned, slapping his palm against his forehead. "She hates being lied to. She has rage blackouts, Ryan. Rage. Blackouts."

"I think you're making a bigger deal out of this than it is."

"Trust me, I'm not. Ugh, fine. I'll tell her. You're right, it's not a big deal. Just, uh.." he slid her knife and fork towards Ryan. "Keep the silverware away from h - hey, you!"

"Okay.." Summer said as she slid back into the booth. "Why are you acting weird?"

"No reason." Seth gulped nervously. "How was..the bathroom?"

"Ugh," Summer sighed, shaking her head before turning her attention towards Elena. "Wanna go shopping?"

"Oh, it's okay. I don't have any mone -"

"It's okay, I have money. C'mon." Summer said, extending her hand out to her.

"No, I couldn't do that." She said firmly, shaking her head.

"Seriously, I want to. I'm not taking no for an answer so come on."

Elena looked up at Ryan, as though asking him for permission, and he nodded his head. A toothy smile spread across her face as she took Summer's hand.

"Guys?" Summer said, putting her free hand on her hip. "Are you coming?"

"Oh. Right. We'll pay the bill and meet up with you in a few minutes."

Summer picked up a matching, plaid bikini set from the rack and studied it carefully before thrusting it towards Elena. "Try this on."

"I don't know." Elena said uneasily, eyeing the flimsy piece of material. She then checked the price tag and practically threw it back at Summer. "This is a hundred dollars, Summer!" She whispered harshly.

"Trust me, that's nothing. It's fine. Try it on." In the short time Elena knew Summer (roughly two hours), she quickly learned just how stubborn Summer was. She knew if she didn't at least try the bathing suit on, Summer would buy it whether she liked it or not. And while the thought of being somebody's charity case didn't sit well with her, to Summer, Elena was just the daughter of Seth's very rich (albeit imaginary) Aunt Linda. And if Elena was being totally honest, she kind of liked it that way.

"Are you even allowed to try on bathing suites? Isn't that like..super unsanitary?"

"Just keep your underwear on," Summer stated simply.

"Okay." She took the bathing suit and hugged it to her chest. "Where's the changing room?"

About ten minutes later, Summer poked her head in to see what was taking so long.

"Oh my god, you look adorable. I love it. We just have to find some cute short -" She suddenly stopped midsentence. "Elena, how did you get that?" She pointed to the large, now fading black and blue mark across her ribs.

"Nothing. I mean, it's not - trust me, it's not a big deal." She stuttered, quickly attempting to cover the bruise with her arms.

"Sweetie," Summer said softly, taking a step towards her. Elena looked down, clearly ashamed.

"I fell, it's not a big deal. Can you just - keep this between us? Please?"

"Does it hurt?"

"A little." Elena admitted.

"Who did this to you?"

Elena looked down, making it perfectly clear she wasn't going to talk about it. Summer sighed and rubbed the little girls arm with a sad smile before turning around. "Put your clothes back on and then meet me by the counter. I'm totally buying that for you, by the way."

The little girl giggled and nodded as Summer disappeared behind the dressing room curtain. She slowly began making her way towards the front counter with an armful of clothes. She knew what she had to do.

An hour later, Seth sat in the front seat as everybody piled into the car.

"Seth," Summer whispered to Seth as Ryan and Elena climbed into the backseat. "There's something I need to talk to you about..in private."

He looked over at Ryan and Elena in the backseat and then back at Summer.

"Hey, guys, I'm gonna drop you off at the house first and then drop Summer off after, okay?"

They both nodded in response. Twenty minutes later, they pulled into the Cohen driveway.

Summer sifted through the large bag of clothes and put Elena's clothes into a separate bag, handing it to her. Elena smiled and gave Summer a small hug, thanking her profusely before climbing out of the car.

"They're nice, Seth. I like them a lot." She smiled fondly at Ryan and Elena from a distance as they disappeared into the house.

A small smile appeared on Seth's face. "Yeah? I'm glad. I like them, too."

She paused. "They aren't your cousins, though, are they?"

"What?" His grip on the steering wheel tightened as he stuttered, "Of c-course they are. Why would you ask that?"

"Don't lie to me."

"They ar -"

"Seth." She snapped, her patience wearing thin.

"How did you know?" He sighed.

"You're a horrible liar," she says, laughing a little. "Who is he? Really?"

"He's sort of..one of my father's cases."

"And the little girl?"

"His sister."

"Why didn't you just tell me?" She asked softly, putting her hand on his arm.

He froze, unsure of how to answer that question. "I just..know how you can be sometimes." Shit, shit, shit. Wrong answer.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Summer, c'mon.. I didn't mean it like that. I just think you would've been more..reluctant to tag along, had you known Ryan's past."

"Do you really think I'm that judgmental?" She looked more upset than angry, which made Seth feel ten times worse.

"What? No! It's not just you..I mean..I would've been the same way, probably." He finished lamely.

"Right." She huffed, crossing her arms. "Whatever. We need to talk, Seth."

His eyes widened. Is she breaking up with me already? Shit. Grovel, Seth, grovel!

"Seth." She hissed, snapping her fingers in front of his face. "Hello?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I'll never lie to you again. It was stupid. I just—"

She had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing. "You're pathetic, you know that?"

"Yes, I'm aware." He admitted.

Her face turned serious. "It's not about that. It's about Elena."

The relieved look on his face was instantly replaced with one of worry. "Is everything okay?"

"I don't know how to say this," she said quietly. "There wasn't any..history of abuse at their house, was there?"

"I don't know. My dad hasn't told me anything. Why? Did she say something to you?""

"When she tried one of the bathing suits on, I saw..some bruises. Like, across her ribs."

"Wait..seriously?"

"Yes." Summer confirmed, nodding her head.

"Do you think Ryan knows?"

"She told me not to tell anyone so my guess? Probably not."

Seth let out a frustrated sigh as he ran his hand through his curly brown hair. "Shit. We have to tell him, right? I-I mean, we have to tell him."

"We? You're on your own for this one, buddy. I have dinner with my dad tonight."

"But Summer." He whined.

"That's what you get for lying to me." She said, poking him in the arm.

"Never again," he muttered as he put the keys in the ignition. "Never again."


	3. Chapter 3

Seth stood in front of the pool house door, pacing back and forth. Do I tell him? I mean, I have to tell him. Right? Right?

Suddenly the door swung open and Ryan appeared, an amused expression on his face. "You do realize the doors are glass, right?

Seth laughed nervously. "Can I..I need to talk to you. Can I come in?"

Ryan cleared his throat. "It's your house, man."

"Thanks." He said, brushing past him. "Where's Elena?"

"In the bathroom."

"Look, I'm gonna make this quick…wait a second, have you been sleeping in a Barbie sleeping bag?" Seth said, smiling wryly at him as he pointed down at the fluffy, pink sleeping bag that was sprawled out on the floor.

"Kind of."

"Why?" Seth put his hand over his mouth, stifling a laugh.

"It's my sister's. I just..I used it. It's all she brought and she wanted the bed, so..never mind." He seemed somewhat frustrated and Seth's laughter wasn't helping.

After another glare from Ryan, Seth shook his head as his face grew serious. "Sorry..sorry, so not funny."

After a pregnant pause, Ryan spoke. "Did you want to talk to be about something or.."

"Yeah. Uh..earlier..in the store..Elena was trying something on and apparently Summer saw.." he looked down at the floor, clearly avoiding Ryan's eyes as he said the next part. "Bruises. A lot of them. I wasn't sure if you were..aware but..I mean, I know it's not my place but I just..I thought you deserved to know."

He clenched his fists but didn't say anything.

"Are you..okay, man?" Seth asked, cringing. He didn't want to have this conversation any more than Ryan did.

"Uh huh..I'm fine." Ryan said gruffly, shaking his head. "Thanks for telling me."

He nodded and clapped Ryan's shoulder before disappearing out of the pool house.

A few minutes later, Elena slowly walked out of the bathroom with her arms crossed and a sad smile on her face. The second he saw her, he knew - she heard everything.

She sat on the edge of the bed next to him, unsure of what to say, afraid of his reaction.

"Did AJ..?" his voice trailed off. "Did he hit you?"

She bit her lip but didn't say anything. She slowly lifted up the right side of her shirt, just enough so he could see where it happened.

"Jesus Christ."

"Ryan, please..don't overreact. I'm fine." Her lower lip trembled, signifying she was anything but fine. He shook his head furiously.

"Fine, Elena?" He hissed. "Like hell it is! And mom just, what? Sat there and watched it happen?" He took her silence as a yes.

"Stop! Where are you going?" She called after him as he headed towards the door in an attempt to retrieve his bike from the side of the house.

"I'm going to kill him."

"He's not worth it, Ryan. It's over. Please, if you want to do anything for me, you'll just drop it." She looked down as the tears that brimmed her eyes threatened to fall.

He turned around. "And what's that going to do, huh?"

"And what's fighting him going to do? If you go there, you're going to end up back in juvie or dead." She choked back a sob. "I-I need you here with me. You're my only real family. I can't lose you, too. Please, I'm begging you..don't leave."

His features softened as he stepped towards her. "Why did you keep it a secret? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I knew how you'd react." She whispered as she hastily wiping away a tear that slid down her cheek.

"I'm so sorry, Elena. I should've been there. I would've stopped that son of a bitch, I swear to God." He said through clenched teeth.

"I know." She said quietly. "I just..I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"I have to tell the Cohens. Okay?" He put his index finger under her chin so she was forced to look at him. "I have to. Maybe they can help."

"I don't want you to."

"You have to get that checked out by a doctor. Will you do that? For me?"

"Fine." She said after a long pause.

"Thank you."

"Ryan, what's going to happen to us?" Elena asked quietly one night while they were sitting on the floor of the pool house, playing a game of Go Fish.

A week had passed since Ryan had found out about AJ and things had calmed down considerably. Kirsten took Elena took their family doctor immediately upon finding out about the bruises and had her go through a routine checkup. She seemed to be doing okay and the bruises were beginning to heal - their future at the Cohen house, however, and, well, life in general remained a mystery.

Kirsten had developed a strong bond with Elena in the short time she knew her - she figured it had something to do with the fact that Elena was never particularly close with her mom and Kirsten herself had always longed for a daughter. Regardless, they were both grateful to have each other.

"I don't know," Ryan answered honestly. "Go fish."

"I'm scared," she admitted as she picked up a card from the pile in front of them.

"Hey, we're gonna be okay."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do. I'm not going to let anything bad happen, I promise." He wasn't really sure of that himself if he was being honest, but he knew he needed to be strong for his little sister.

Suddenly, a loud knock came from the pool house door. They both whipped their heads around to see Seth standing there with a bag of chips in one hand and a can of soda in the other. Ryan motioned for him to come in.

"Hey, I thought you were going over Summer's?" Ryan asked as Seth plopped down onto the bed.

"I was but apparently her best friend needed her," he replied, using air quotes. "What are we playing?"

"Go fish," Elena replied, setting her hand of cards down onto the cold tile. "I'm kind of bored of this, though."

He cracked open a can of soda and took a swig of it. "You guys wanna grab a bite to eat?"

Ryan looked over at Elena, who was nodding eagerly, and shrugged his shoulders. "Sure."

Ryan, Elena and Seth walked into the Pier Diner side by side, searching for a place to sit. It was relatively empty with the exception of an elderly couple in the back and a group of mingling teenagers in the front, so you could sit pretty much anywhere you wanted to. Elena practically begged them to sit in the booth in the back because you could see the water from there and Seth and Ryan reluctantly agreed. As they made their way to the booth, however, Seth's whole demeanor changed.

He looked uneasy and paranoid as he slid into the booth, prompting Elena to ask "is everything okay?"

"Not exactly." He said, peeking over his menu.

"Who are you hiding from?" Ryan asked, peering over his shoulder.

"No, don't!" He practically yelled.

Suddenly a larger guy looked over at them and smirked, whispering something to his friends before they all came walking towards them.

"This guy's a tool," Seth muttered to Ryan and Elena. "Just ignore him."

"Hey, queer." The guy grinned, clearly satisfied with himself as he gave out high fives to the group of Neanderthals that surrounded him.

Seth stared down at the menu. "What are you guys getting?"

"Hey, queer." The guy slammed his fists against the table, causing the silverware to clatter. "I'm talking to you."

Ryan set his jaw as he growled through clenched teeth, "just get the hell outta here, man."

"Who the fuck asked you? Hell, who the fuck are you? Oh, oh. I know—is this your butt buddy, Seth?" The guy smirked.

"Cohen has a boyfriend!" Another tall jock chimed in.

Seth let out a humorless laugh before dryly responding, "That'll never get old. Thanks, guys. Really."

"Why are you being so mean?" A small voice said. Uh oh.

The boy's features softened almost instantly upon seeing Elena. "And who are you?"

"Who are you?"

"I asked you first," he retorted.

"So?"

"His name is Luke," Seth interrupted, shaking his head. "Can you please go now, dude? I got the point. I'm a queer and you're better than me."

"Whatever, Cohen. This isn't over."

"What isn't over, exactly?

"This," he gestured between the two of them before quickly turning on his heel and walking away.

"Right," Seth drawled out sarcastically. "He's pleasant, huh?"

"What's his issue with you, anyway?" Ryan asked.

"He and Summer used to.." his voice trailed off as he looked back down at his menu.

"Date?" Elena shrieked, looking somewhat horrified.

Seth crinkled up his nose. "No. No, no, n—I mean, she claims they didn't. Look, can we talk about something else?"

An hour and a half later, Ryan, Elena and Seth walked through the front door of the Cohen house to discover Sandy and Kirsten waiting for them. They looked anxious, like they were about to deliver horrible news which, in turn, made Ryan consider turning the other way and bolting. But he didn't.

"Ryan, can we talk to you for a second?" Kirsten looked over at Elena and smiled warmly at her, reassuring her that everything was okay.

"Sure," Ryan looked over at his little sister and ruffled her hair. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay," she smiled sadly as Kirsten, Sandy and Ryan disappeared into the kitchen.

"We got in touch with your mother," Kirsten said, clasping her hands together tightly as she leaned on the kitchen island.

"Did you..did you see her?"

"No, but she's coming over for dinner tomorrow night." Sandy said.

"Are you kidding me? Here?"

"Yes," Kirsten nodded.

"It's just a dinner, Ryan." Sandy reassured him.

"Yeah, if she even shows up." Ryan said under his breath. "Sorry. I just.."

"We know," Kirsten said. "It's okay."

"Is he..?"

"No, he won't be there. I'll make sure of it." Sandy said.

"Should I tell Elena?"

"You can," Kirsten replied. "We just didn't want to upset her. We thought it would be better coming from you."

"Okay. Thanks, I guess."

Kirsten called for Seth and Elena and they came through the door almost instantly, leading her to believe they were probably eavesdropping. She shook her head and laughed a little before asking, "so, are you guys hungry?"

Early the next morning, Elena, Sandy and Kirsten gathered at the kitchen table for breakfast. Ryan and Seth were still sleeping and they didn't bother to wake them up.

"We'll just grill up some steaks or burgers for dinner?" Sandy asked Kirsten as he stared down at his newspaper.

"Yeah, that's fine." She said before looking over at Elena. "Elena, did Ryan talk to you?"

"About?" Elena asked with a mouthful of Fruit Loops. She dropped her spoon into her now empty bowl and walked over to the sink, washing out out before placing it in the dishwasher.

Kirsten and Sandy exchanged glances. "Um..about your mom?"

"Oh.." Elena said, sitting back down at the table. "Yeah, he did."

"And that's okay?"

"Yeah..I just, I'm a little nervous," she said, toying with the charm bracelet that hung from her wrist.

Kirsten gave her a reassuring smile despite the fact that she, herself, was nervous about what was going to happen. "Don't be. Hey, why don't you go get your brother up?"

"Okay," Elena said.

"Are we making a mistake, doing this?" Kirsten asked when she was sure Elena was out of ear shot.

"No," Sandy said. "It's just a dinner."

"I know, but.." Her voice trailed off as she brought her mug of coffee to her lips and took a small sip

"Kirsten," he leaned over and put his large hand over her tiny one, linking their fingers together. "It's going to be fine."

"I hope so," she said before slowly standing up from her spot at the kitchen table. She began collecting the dirty dishes that were scattered across the kitchen table to put into the dishwasher. "I'm gonna go get a shower."

He stood up, coffee mug in hand, and walked over to her, placing a kiss on her cheek. She smiled and disappeared upstairs, leaving Sandy to himself in the kitchen. A few minutes later, Ryan walked through the door.

"Hey," he said, looking caught off guard completely.

"See you're finally up," Sandy said, smiling.

"Yeah, I just couldn't sleep last night."

"It's okay," he said, clapping Ryan on the shoulder. "There's juice on the table and some cereal and the milk is in the fridge. Help yourself to anything."


	4. Chapter 4

Elena stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her torso before walking over to the bed where her brand new clothes laid. Kirsten had taken her shopping a few days prior because most of her clothes weren't weather appropriate, given the recent heat wave.

She slipped on a white t-shirt along with a floral cut-out pin tuck, navy blue skirt and a pair of large bow sandals. She couldn't remember the last time she wore something brand new but if she was being honest, it was kind of exciting. She never held it against or resented her mother for not being able to provide the same type of things most mothers could but when she'd listen to other kids in school talk about how their mother took them back to school shopping, she'd be lying if she said she didn't feel a pang of jealousy.

She heard a light knock on the door and though she couldn't see who it was because the blinds were down, she called out for them to come in. Kirsten appeared at the doorway.

"Let me see, does it fit?"

"I think so," Elena responded, running her hand across the material. She slowly walked over to the mirror and Kirsten followed closely behind.

"You look beautiful, sweetie."

"Thank you," she said shyly, "For everything."

Kirsten extended her hand out to the little girl. "C'mon, let's go. Dinner's on."

"Is she here?" Elena whispered.

"Not yet."

She let out a sigh of relief and they walked over to the patio area where Seth and Ryan were sitting at the table and Sandy was hovering over the grill, flipping meat patties. Elena took a seat next to Seth and smiled when she saw him staring down at his phone.

When he noticed her looking, he waved the cell phone and said, "Summer."

"I figured," she said, giggling. "Tell her I said hi."

"I will." He smiled to himself before typing something into his phone and slipping it into his pocket.

Suddenly the doorbell rang and Elena visibly tensed up. Ryan put a reassuring hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down but it didn't seem to help much.

"I'll get it," Kirsten said before disappearing into the house.

A few minutes later, Dawn and Kirsten walked through the back door and towards the patio area, both with fake smiles plastered onto their face. An awkward silence settled upon them as they all stood there, just staring at each other for about thirty seconds until Dawn finally broke the silence.

"Hi," she said softly, taking a step towards her children. "Look at you guys. You look good."

"Dinner is served!" Sandy's voice bellowed throughout the backyard as he set a plate of freshly grilled hot dogs and hamburgers onto the glass table along with pasta salad, potato chips, macaroni salad and corn on the cob. Kirsten began handing out the glass plates while Seth set a pitcher of water on the table and Elena dispersed the silverware.

"You have a beautiful home, Kirsten." Dawn said as she took a seat across from Ryan at the table.

"Oh, thank you." Kirsten said with a smile, taking a seat at the head of the table.

"How have you been, Ryan?" Dawn asked. When he didn't respond, she turned to Elena. "Lena?"

"We've been good." She replied, forcing a smile.

"I'm so happy to hear that." She said, scooping some macaroni salad onto her plate.

"Are you really?" Ryan countered, scowling at his mother. "Because it doesn't seem like it."

"Of course I am," she said with a tight smile, taking a bite of her salad. "Why would you ask me that?"

"Cut the act, mom." Ryan mumbled under his breath.

"Look, Ryan.." Dawn began, setting her fork on her plate. "I'm sorry, okay? You have every reason to be upset with me, but -"

"Don't you think it's a little late for that?"

"I just need you to know that I never meant to hurt you guys," she finished calmly, reaching across the table for his hand.

"Don't touch me," he snapped. "And you never meant to hurt us? Really, mom?"

"Look, I'm trying here."

"You're trying?" He laughed bitterly, shaking his head. "No. You can't just show up here and decide you want to start trying - not after sixteen years."

"Nothing I do is ever enough for you, you know that?"

"What you've done for us?" He drawled, letting out a humorless chuckle. "What, you mean when you kicked your sixteen and eleven year old out with no food, no place to stay, nothing? Or when your alcoholic boyfriend beat the shit out of your daughter and you just watched it happen? Or maybe -"

"Dammit, Ryan, enough! I am still your mother and I'm not going to sit here and listen to you tell me all the things I did wrong, okay?"

"She had bruises, mom! How could you sit idly by and just..not care?"

"Bruises?" Dawn asked, shifting her gaze to Elena. "Is that true?"

"Of course it's true, mom." Ryan said before Elena was able to respond.

"You think if I knew that, I wouldn't have broken up with AJ sooner? Huh?"

"Can you guys please stop?" Elena pleaded but her voice was drowned out by the sound of Ryan and Dawn continuing to argue. After about ten seconds and no sign of either of them letting up, she turned to Kirsten and mumbled, "Can I be excused?"

Kirsten nodded and Elena practically bolted to the pool house, quietly shutting the door behind her.

Seth quickly stood up from his spot at the table and ran after Elena without even thinking about it while Sandy and Kirsten attempted to calm down the situation at the dinner table. When he entered the pool house he discovered her lying on the bed, her head buried into a pillow as the sound of a muffled sob filled the room. He sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the floor as he tried to think of what he could possibly say to make her feel better.

"Are you..okay?" He asked, feeling stupid for even asking. Of course she wasn't okay.

"I will be," she said, sitting up and wiping her tears. After about thirty seconds, she slowly crawled over to next to where Seth was sitting and brought her knees to her chest, sniffling. "I hate it when they fight."

"Do they do that often?" He responded, tilting his head.

"Not really," she replied. "But whenever they did, it was usually bad. Ryan tried not to do it around me but..you know him. He can be kinda stubborn."

Seth let out a breathy laugh and nodded his head. "Sounds like Ryan."

"When I was younger, we were happier." She said wistfully after a long pause, looking down at the floor. "But I don't know what happened. We'd, like, do stuff."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Ryan and Trey - my other brother," she clarified, shaking her head. "They took care of me when my mom was too drunk or too busy to. But she wasn't always like that - she had her moments, ya know?"

"Yeah," he murmured, unsure of how else to respond. He reached out and put a comforting hand on her shoulder and she quickly looked down, a tear slipping down her cheek. "Your other brother..is he..?"

"He's in jail." She said quietly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'm sorry. That sucks." He said bluntly, shaking his head. "Were you guys close?"

She nodded, a genuine smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Yeah," she whispered before dabbing at her tear stained cheeks with the back of her hand.

"Hold on," Seth quickly stood up from his spot on the bed and ran into the bathroom, bringing back a handful of toilet paper. "Here"

"Thank you," she said, offering him a small smile in return.

Suddenly the pool house door creaked open and Kirsten appeared in the doorway. "Is everything okay?" She asked before taking a step towards them. Elena nodded, as did Seth, and Kirsten let out a sigh of relief.

"Is my, um..is she still.." Elena's voice trailed off and Kirsten gently shook her head in response. "Oh. Is she coming back?"

"I don't know," Kirsten responded honestly. "But I have her number in the house if you decide you want to call her, okay?"

"Okay," she said, nodding her head. "Where's Ryan?"

"He's inside talking to Sandy. C'mon, why don't we go eat before the food gets too cold?" Kirsten suggested, holding her hand out to Elena. She smiled and took it as they walked into the backyard with Seth following closely behind.


	5. Chapter 5

Sandy and Kirsten had just settled into bed—Sandy tapping away on his laptop while Kirsten had her head buried in a book—when they heard a knock on their bedroom door.

They looked over at each other for a brief second, confusion evident on their face, before Sandy stood up and walked over to the door, cracking it open slightly. "Elena," he said, smiling warmly. "Is everything okay?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Cohen? I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Elena stammered, her eyes wide with worry.

"No, no, of course not, sweetie. Come in." Kirsten replied, patting the bed in front of her, signaling for Elena to sit down.

"Thanks," she said with a nervous chuckle. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course you can. Is everything okay?" Kirsten asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I was just..I was wondering, if, um—well, you know my brother? Trey? Well, I kind of..I haven't seen him in a really long time. And I, um. I've been missing him a lot lately."

Kirsten smiled sadly at the young girl, placing a sympathetic arm around her shoulder. "I can imagine."

"Yeah. I was wondering if maybe one day this week I could go visit him?"

Kirsten and Sandy exchanged glances, knowing how difficult it must have been for Elena to work up the courage to ask that, given how nervous she looked. They didn't want to break her spirit and just say no without any hesitation. She was, after all, a young kid and Trey and Ryan were pretty much the only blood relatives she had left.

After a long pause, Sandy cleared his throat. "You know what? It's getting late. Why don't you let me and Kirsten discuss it with Ryan tomorrow and then we'll go from there, okay?"

"Yeah." Elena replied with a bright smile. "Thank you so much Mr. and Mrs. Cohen. For everything. And I'm sorry for coming in here—I know how late it is and everything."

"It's fine, if you ever need to talk to us, no matter what time of night, we're here." Sandy said.

"Thank you so much. Goodnight."

Early the next morning Ryan sat in the Cohen family kitchen, sipping a cup of coffee when Kirsten and Sandy entered. Ryan looked up at them and nodded his head in acknowledgement of them.

"Hope you don't mind I put some coffee on." He yawned.

"Not at all!" Kirsten replied, grabbing a mug out of the cabinet and pouring herself a cup.

"Where's Seth?" Sandy asked.

"He went to pick up Summer."

"Ahh," Kirsten grinned knowingly. "Where's Elena?"

"She's just getting dressed."

"Uh, Ryan..speaking of Elena..we just thought you should know. She came into our room late last night—told Kirsten and I she wanted to go visit your brother in Chino."

"What? Are you serious? Did you say no?"

"I told her we wanted to talk to you about it first."

"And?"

"Well? What do you think?"

"No. No, no, no. I don't think it's a good idea. She doesn't need to see Trey in the conditions he's living in right now—she's too young. It would do more harm than good."

"That's what I said," Kirsten piped up, taking a sip of her coffee.

"You're right," Sandy sighed, frowning. "I'll tell her when I get home."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it, I'll do it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. It'd probably be better coming from me, anyway."

"Alright. I'll see you guys when I get home," Sandy said, leaning down and placing a kiss on Kirsten's forehead before disappearing out the front door.

Several seconds later, Elena emerged from the pool house, wearing a green crocheted batwing jumper, a pair of beaded flip flops and a pair of butterfly sunglasses on the top of her head.

Kirsten grinned. "Don't you look adorable!"

"Thanks," she said, smiling sheepishly. "Summer got it for me."

Ryan sighed and shook his head as if to say girls and their clothes! while Elena pulled out a chair at the kitchen table.

"Elena, can I talk to you for a second?" Ryan asked after a long pause.

"Yeah, sure. What about?"

Kirsten quickly stood up, whispering "I'll let you guys talk" before scurrying off into the other room.

Ryan sighed, knowing this conversation wasn't going to be easy—his little sister was just like him. Quiet, at times ill-tempered, and stubborn. Very, very stubborn.

"I heard you want to go visit Trey."

"Oh. Let me guess, you don't think I should?"

Ryan nodded. "Look, Lena, I know how much you miss Trey—I miss him too. But it's not a good idea..you're too young."

"I'm not too young!" Elena cried. "Besides, he's my brother, Ryan! I should be allowed to see him!"

"You will, just not right now."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so."

"But—" she began, her lower lip trembling.

"No, Elena. The answer is no."

"I hate you, Ryan." She said, choking back a sob. She quickly stood up from the table and ran out the back door back into the pool house.

Ryan sighed, running a hand through his messy dirty blonde locks. He briefly considered running after her, but he knew if he did, it would probably just make things worse. She just needed some time to cool off. He walked into the living room and plopped onto the couch before drifting off into a deep sleep.

Several hours later, Ryan awoke to Summer and Seth standing over him, amused grins on their faces. Ryan quickly sat up, wiping the drool off of the side of his face and peering over at the clock on the wall. Seth snorted he and Summer plopped down on the couch next to him

"Tired?" Seth asked dryly.

"Hey, Ryan, where's Elena? I wanted to take her shopping. There's this new store in the mall that she would love and it just opened up."

"In the pool house, moping." Ryan replied, rolling his eyes.

"Why, what happened?" Seth asked.

"She said she wanted to go visit Trey."

"Yikes."

"I know. She'll get over it."

"Do you mind if I go get her?" Summer asked, clapping her hands together excitedly.

Ryan shook his head and Summer immediately stood up, running out the backdoor and into the open pool house. "Lena?" She called out, knocking on the glass door and poking her head in. "Lena? Where are you? It's Summer! Elena?"

Silence.

"Elena!" She called out again, a little louder this time. Nothing. She checked under the covers, in the bathroom and behind the curtain. Again, she came up empty. Shit, she thought. She quickly ran back into the living room where Seth and Ryan sat, deep in conversation about some new video game.

"Ryan! Seth! Elena's not in the pool house." She said, practically out of breath.

"What?" Ryan and Seth said in unison before they both darted out into the pool house.

Ryan sighed. "I'll check in here once more, you check in the living room, kitchen, dining room, basement—Summer, you check the second floor?"

"On it."

Twenty minutes later, Elena was nowhere to be found. Kirsten had checked with the neighbors, Seth and Summer practically tore apart the entire house, and Ryan searched the entire property. Nothing.

Ryan sat at the kitchen table, his face buried in his hands, while Summer called several friends around town, asking them to be on the lookout and Kirsten was trying to get a hold of Sandy. He felt completely and totally helpless. He couldn't bear the thought of something, anything, happening to his baby sister. It was too much.

"I called a few friends. Nobody has seen her. I told them to ask around, though, so if anybody has seen or does see her, they're going to call me."

"Thanks, you guys." Ryan said quietly. After a moment, his head shot up. "Wait..you don't think she—"

Kirsten's face lit up, like a light bulb just went off in her head. "Chino!" She exclaimed.

Ryan's eyes widened and he nodded. Kirsten turned to Seth and Summer. "One of you guys needs to stay here. Seth, I need you to get in touch with the Orange County Transportation Authority, okay? See if there were any buses leaving out of Orange County to Chino or any of the surrounding cities this morning."

"Okay. Wait, wait, where are you going?" He asked, clearly not understanding what was happening.

"Chino."

Elena Atwood sat in the back of a hot, stinky bus, staring out the window, mulling over everything that had happened just an hour prior.

She knew what she was doing was probably a huge mistake, but in that moment, she didn't care. She just wanted to see her big brother. She was sure she'd be back before anyone even really noticed she wasn't there anyway.

After about an hour long bus ride, they pulled into the bus stop. As the remaining passengers emptied out onto the sidewalk, Elena couldn't help but feel nervous. She had never been alone anywhere before, let alone in a place like Chino. She reached into her bag and fished out a map of Chino she had from months ago when she was out with her mother.

"You gettin' out, kid?" The burly bus driver called from the front seat.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I didn't realize…" she giggled, her cheeks turning bright red.

The bus driver chuckled. "You with your parents?"

"Um, yes." She lied before slinging her bag over her shoulder. "They're out there. Sorry about that. Thanks for the ride, mister."

"No problem."

When she walked out onto the sidewalk, she saw a sea of people wandering around her and she gulped nervously. She looked down at the map in front of her and saw the county jail was roughly six blocks from where she was standing. She shoved the map back into her bag and began to walk as the guilt began to creep in.

A half an hour later, Elena found herself waiting at the table, her eyes trained carefully on the visitation room entrance, waiting for her brother to emerge. After about five minutes she spotted him, messy hair and all, searching the room intently. When he spotted her, his entire face lit up as he practically towards her, arms open wide.

"Trey!" Elena exclaimed, throwing her arms around her older brother.

"Lena," he said softly, tightly wrapping his arms around his little sister. He felt tears begin to sting his eyes as he felt overcome with emotion—it seemed like it had been years since he saw her, anyone, really. He had missed her so, so much. "Where's mom?"

"She's not here." She admitted quietly, looking up at him through her thick lashes as she sat down at the picnic table in front of them.

"Who did you come with? Ryan?" He asked, looking around, looking to see who she was with.

"Um, no. I'm here…I'm here by myself." She practically whispered, hanging her head in shame.

"By yourself? Does mom know where you are? Ryan?"

"I don't live with mom anymore."

"Hey," he put his hand on her chin and lifted her head up, forcing her to look at him. "What do you mean you don't live with mom anymore?"

"Ryan and I live with the Cohens."

He furrowed his brow in confusion. "The Cohens?"

"Yes. They're a family in Newport Beach."

"Wow. Newport? But wait, wait, wait…they let you come here by yourself, Elena?"

"I kind of..snuck out."

"Elena!" He exclaimed angrily, slamming his fist on the table in front of him. A guard looked his way, glaring, and Trey lowered his voice. "What the hell are you thinking? Do you understand how dangerous this is? You're a child, Elena! And what about Ryan? He's probably worried sick about you."

"So what? Not everything is about Ryan!" She snapped back, all of her pent up frustration being unleashed.

"Hey, watch it missy. Just because I'm in jail doesn't mean I can't punish you."

"I know," she said quietly, tears forming in her eyes. "I just..I missed you so much, Trey. I just wanted to see you, that's it."

"Shh, shh. I missed you too, okay?" He said quietly, putting his arm around her. She sniffled and smiled through her tears, nodding her head.

As she cried into her older brothers arms, suddenly, nothing else mattered.

After searching endless bus stops, sidewalks and rest stops, Kirsten and Ryan pulled into the county jail. When they entered, they were greeted by an elderly lady in a cardigan who directed them towards the visitation center. They immediately let out a sigh of relief upon entering, seeing Elena giggling over something Trey was saying.

"Stay calm, okay?" Kirsten said, putting a hand on Ryan's shoulder. He only nodded.

When Elena spotted them, all the blood drained her face and her smile quickly faded.

"Elena," Ryan whispered harshly when he reached the table. "It's time. To. Go."

"Ryan." Trey nodded, offering his little brother a smile.

"Trey." Ryan said, returning the favor. "Elena? Now."

Kirsten went to follow them but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"Um, Mrs. Cohen, is it?" Trey asked, looking over her shoulder at Ryan and Elena's retreating figures. Kirsten nodded. "I just want to thank you for taking care of my little brother and sister. You know, she looked happier than I've ever seen her when she was talking about you guys."

Kirsten couldn't help but smile. "She's a good kid. So is Ryan."

"Yeah, they are. So..just..thanks."

"You're welcome." Kirsten replied before turning on her heel and walking towards the jail exit.

They all piled into the car, an eerie silence settling upon them. Ryan's jaw was set and his fists were clenched but he didn't say anything, nor did Elena. Kirsten knew she should probably talk to her about it but she figured now probably wasn't the best time and Ryan knew how to handle Elena better than she did. When they pulled into the Cohen family driveway, Seth, Summer and Sandy were all waiting by the front door, the worry evident in their features.

"Elena!" Summer called out when she saw them, a relieved expression on her face she ran towards the little girl.

"I'm so sorry I worried you guys," Elena sniffled, enveloping Summer in a hug. Summer seemed surprised at the affection but immediately returned the hug, wrapping her arms tightly around her. "And I'm so, so sorry for everything, Mr. and Mrs. Cohen." She said, turning to Sandy and Kirsten. "I didn't think you'd notice I was gone. I never intended to worry or upset you guys."

"Of course we'd notice if you were gone," Kirsten said, smiling sadly at the little girl. "You're family now. How could you think we wouldn't notice?"

"I know that now." Elena said softly. "And Ryan.."

"We'll talk about it in the pool house, okay?" Ryan replied, his tone clipped and his arms crossed.

A half an hour later, Ryan stood on the cold tile of the Cohen pool house floor, pacing back and forth, brows furrowed and arms crossed.

"What the hell were you thinking, Elena Nicole Atwood?" He exclaimed. "Huh? Chino by yourself? What if somebody had grabbed you, huh? What if something horrible had happened to you? You could have been killed! You're a child, Elena! You know what happens to children who are alone on the public bus?"

"I know," she whispered as tears pooled in her eyes. "I'm sorry. How many times do I have to say it? I just..I wanted to see him so much."

"That's not your decision to make, Elena! And what about Mr. and Mrs. Cohen, huh? Seth? Summer? They spent the entire day looking for you! Mr. Cohen had to leave wor—"

"I said I was sorry, Ryan! I apologized to Mr. and Mrs. Cohen, I apologized to Seth and I apologized to Summer, what else can I say? I'm an idiot, okay? I know that! I made a mistake." She cried, the tears spilling down her cheeks.

Ryan's expression softened. "You're not an idiot, Lena."

"Yes I am," she sniffled into her hands. "It's just..you and Trey are all I have left."

He grabbed a tissue off of the nightstand and handed it to her before snaking an arm around her. "I was so worried about you, you know." He said, letting out a humorless chuckle.

"I'm sorry," she said again, her voice hoarse from crying. "I'm so sorry, Ry."

He nodded his head. "I forgive you."

"Are you going to punish me?" He only nodded, causing Elena to burst out into tears yet again. "Do you have to?"

He sighed. "Lena. You know the rules."

"Please?" She cried, this time her voice a little louder than the time before. He firmly shook his head.

"C'mere." He sat down on the bed and motioned for her to come over. She reluctantly began to drag her feet towards where he was sitting. He gently grabbed her arm and guided her towards his lap. She bent over and let out a pained cry when he landed one swat to her clothed bottom. She squirmed in his grip, crying and protesting but he continued. After six smacks, Ryan released her. "Okay, you're done.

She stood up, face flushed and wrapped her arms around her brother.

"I'm sorry again." She whispered.

"It's okay. Now if you misbehave again, Sandy and Kirsten can spank you as well. Got it?"

"Got it." She murmured.

"Now go get your pajamas on and run a cold rag over your face, okay?" He said, offering her a small smile. She smiled back before disappearing into the bathroom.


	6. Chapter 6

IMPORTANT A/N: We have changed Elena's age to NINE years old. So if there is ANY confusion about her age she is NINE :D

The next day Elena walked into the kitchen of the cohen house and Ryan was at the table with Seth, Sandy and Kirsten.

"Morning." Elena smiled taking a seat next to Ryan.

"Morning" everyone smiled back at her.

Ryan turned to Elena. "Elena, I just want you to know that I love you, that's why I spanked you last night."

Elena slightly blushed and nodded. "I know that Ryan." She smiled. "I love you too."

"Woah-you spanked her?" Seth asked with his mouth gaped open.

"Yes." Ryan said with a particular tone that said he was done talking about it.

Seth looked down and continued eating.

"Ryan can we go to the beach today?" Elena asked smiling.

Ryan smiled back. "Sure sis, Seth call Summer and invite her too."

Seth smiled. "Will do." He took out his cell and sent her a text message. Within a minute he got a reply. "She said she'll be there in fifteen."

"I'm gonna get ready!" Elena exclaimed and ran back to the pool house to change. Elena pulled out her new bathing suit that Summer bought her. It was an Orchid Sizzle skirted center-tie bikini. She slipped on her purple butterfly jelly sandals on her feet and one of Ryan's t-shirts that was oversized for her as a cover up then went back in the Cohen house. She had he hair up in a messy but and a towel thrown over her shoulder. "I'm ready!" she smiled.

Sandy and Kirsten smiled as they stood up from their chairs. "We're gonna be heading out. We'll be back late tonight." Kirsten said and gave each kid a kiss on the cheek.

"Behave kids." Sandy warned and left with Kirsten and a smile on his face.

"I'll go get my bathing suit on." Seth said and ventured to his bedroom.

"I'm gonna go get changed as well, why don't you watch TV in the living room and wait." He smiled kissing her head.

"Okay!" she smiled and jogged into the living room.

A few minutes later Seth and Ryan emerged from their respective rooms, towels and suntan lotion in hand.

"Ready?" Ryan asked and Elena only grinned and nodded her head.

They opened the car up and loaded a few beach chairs and an umbrella into it. They pulled up to the boardwalk near the beach about ten minutes later, where Summer was already waiting on a nearby bench.

"Seth, where have you been, I've been waiting here forev..." Her voice trailed off and her face lit up instantly at the sight of Elena. She quickly ran towards the little girl and looped their arms together.

"Hey! I'm so glad I finally have a girl to talk to."

"Me too," Elena admitted, giggling softly.

Summer and Elena scurried off towards the beach together, leaving Ryan and Seth bewildered. After a few seconds, they followed after them, albeit at a much slower pace, their arms filled with beach chairs and towels.

"So, did you wear the bathing suit I bought you?"

"Yes, it's under my cover up." Elena replied matter of factly, a sheepish smile forming on her face.

"I can't wait to see it! Maybe you'll meet a cute boy, too." Summer teased. Elena's jaw dropped and her cheeks grew red, seemingly mortified at the prospect of having a boyfriend.

"_Summer!_" She giggled. "I'm only _nine!_"

"I know, I know!" Summer replied, as though she was going to drop the subject. After a few seconds of silence, though, it was clear she wasn't going to.

"Were there any boys from your class that you thought were cute?"

Elena was about to speak but Ryan interrupted them. "What are you guys talking about?"

Elena's eyes widened and Summer winked at Elena. "Nothing, just shopping and stuff like that."

"Oh," Ryan said, clearly disinterested, and Elena let out a sigh of relief.

"Where do you guys wanna sit?" Seth asked, looking around at the crowded beach. Elena peered around until finally her eyes landed on a seemingly empty spot close to the water.

"How about over there?" She suggested.

"Works for me." Seth replied.

They walked over to the spot and began setting everything up, starting with the beach chairs, the umbrella and then finally, the beach towels. Elena curled up on the bright pink towel while Seth, Summer and Ryan all settled into the chairs.

"Seth, can you help me?" Summer asked, pulling a bottle of suntan lotion out of her bag.

"Yeah!" Seth replied eagerly and Ryan couldn't help but snort at Seth's inability to be subtle.

Summer simply rolled her eyes and handed it to him before taking her sunglasses off of the top of her head and back over her eyes.

Just as Seth was finishing up, Elena slipped her cover up off. Summer smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "It looks _so_ cute, Elena!"

Ryan looked over and his face instantly fell. "Elena, what is that?"

"What is what?" She asked, the confusion evident on her face.

"That." He said, pointing to the bathing suit.

"A..bathing..suit?" She said slowly.

Ryan sighed. "I know it's a bathing suit; but why are you wearing _that _one?"

Elena shrugged. "Because Summer bought it for me and it's cute."

"You're too young to wear a bikini. Put your cover back on." He said tossing it to her.

"No." she said with a fixed expression on her face.

Ryan got in her face and his voice became dangerously low. "Elena; you put your cover back on or we can just go home."

She threw her cover on the ground. "No! This is a cute bathing suit and I'm not going to cover it up!"

Ryan was really upset. He looked at Summer and Seth and came up with something. "You guys I'll be right back I'm going to take Elena back home." Seth tossed him the keys to the car.

Elena whined. "Noooo Ryan! I don't wanna go home!"

Ryan shook his head. "I don't care. I told you to put your cover back on or we'll go home. Come on."

Elena crossed her arms and just glared at him.

Ryan didn't want to put up with anything. He sighed and walked over to her picked her up over his shoulder and started walking.

After about a five minute walk to the car Ryan put Elena down in the backseat. She was pouting the entire ride home. Ryan put the car in park and got Elena out of the car and led her to the pool house. He immediately sat on the bed and made her standing in front of him, looking into his eyes. "Young lady, the way you were behaving back there at the beach is totally unacceptable. You know better than that."

Elena pouted looked in his eyes. She knew what was about to happen.

Ryan let out a sigh before pulling her over his lap and lowering her bikini bottoms. Without hesitation he lifted his hand and brought it down on her vulnerable bare bottom.

"Oww! Oww! Ryan I'm sorry!" She squirmed and cried out. By swat number 10 she tried reaching her arms back to protect her bottom from the stinging swats but Ryan gently pinned them to the small of her back. As Ryan continued to lay down the swats Elena kept kicking and crying. Finally at swat 30 he stopped.

He pulled up her bottoms and sat her on his lap carefully and hugged her close. "Shh, it's over sis." He whispered and rocked her slowly.

"I'm sorry!" she cried in his chest, hugging him tight.

"Shh, I know Lana, I know." He kissed her head.

After a few minutes of crying, Elena actually fell asleep in her brother's arms. He looked down at his sleeping sister and carefully laid her on the bed and put a blanket on her. He leaned down and kissed her forehead and left the pool house, quietly shutting the door behind him.

He drove back to the beach and met back up with Summer and Seth.

"Hey…"Seth said trying to break the little awkwardness.

"Hey" Ryan said taking a seat. "Summer, I appreciate you buying stuff for my little sister, but if you buy her any more bathing suits, can you please make sure it's a one piece? She's only nine."

Summer nodded and gave a small smiled. "Sure thing Ryan, I'm sorry."

Ryan smiled back. "It's okay." He leaned back in the beach chair to enjoy the sun.

The three teenagers just relaxed for a few more hours before returning back to the Cohen house.


	7. Chapter 7

Kirsten arrived home early from work and found Elena crying hysterically on the front living room couch.

"Baby, oh my God, what's wrong?"

Elena hugged Kirsten tight and sobbed for a few moments unable to speak. Once Elena calmed down she pulled away from her surrogate mother. She looked up at her with crocodile filled tears swimming in her big blue eyes.

"Ryan left me. I was really bad at the beach. He brought me home and spanked me. I fell asleep and when I woke up he was gone. No one was here. He left me!"

Elena began to cry again. Kirstin just held the little girl close and rocked her softly.

"It's okay now sweetie, I'm here. You're not alone."

Ryan and Seth walk in laughing. They notice Kirsten and Elena right away.

"What happened? Elena, are you okay?" Ryan asked frantically.

"You left me Ryan! You just left me!"

"What? You were sleeping. I…..I…"

Ryan tried to think of a good reason but realistically he didn't have any good excuse for leaving his baby sister home alone.

"Oh my God, Elena, I'm sorry. I guess I was just really upset and I just left. I didn't think."

"No, you didn't think young man," Kirsten chimed in. "Go to the pool house and wait for me," she instructed firmly.

"Wait, what? But Kirsten…"

"Now Ryan, don't make me repeat myself."

Ryan looked at her then Elena and Seth then back at Kirsten. He let out a defeated sigh.

"Yes ma'am."

Kirsten watched Ryan saunter away then brought her attention back onto the gloomy child. She gave her a soft kiss on her forehead and brushed her hair behind her ear.

"I need to deal with your brother right now. Would you feel better if Seth made you a bowl of ice cream and watched a movie with you?"

The little girl lit up.

"Yeah!" Elena said with a huge smile.

Seth was about to complain for being volunteered to babysit but stopped his self once he saw how excited it made his honorary little sister. He shook his head slightly and sighed.

"Okay munchkin, come with me," said Seth holding out his hand.

"Thank you Kirsten!"

Elena gave her a huge hug of appreciation.

"You're welcome baby."

The little girl left with Seth and Kirsten made her way out to the pool house. She grabbed a wooden spoon as she walked through the kitchen.

**OC**

Kirsten knocked on the sliding glass door before walking in. She found Ryan sitting on the edge of his bed staring at his feet with his hands folded on his lap. She let out a small sigh as she wasn't thrilled about what she had to do next. She sat next to the distraught teenage boy.

"Ryan, do you realize what you did was very irresponsible? It was just the other day you spanked Elena for taking off alone on the bus. Today, you leave her home alone for hours? I don't understand how you could do that?"

"I really don't know either. I was, I don't know. I was just having a bad morning. I was thinking of my mom and her asshole boyfriend. Elena was wearing this bikini and I just made a big deal about it. I don't know, it really wasn't even too skimpy. I was in a weird space. I told her to cover herself up. She refused. It just triggered my anger that much more. By time I was finished punishing her and she fell asleep, well, I just thought, finally, some peace and quiet. I am such a horrible brother."

"No, sweetie, you're not. You are a normal teenage boy who has to play big brother and parent to your little sister. It's perfectly understandable to want to just have fun. You're only 16, you should have fun. Unfortunately, you went about it the wrong way. You should have called me or Sandy right away and we would have come home or sent a babysitter."

Ryan looked up at Kirsten with tear filled eyes.

"I know Kirsten. I'm sorry."

Kirstin gave a nod. "You know what I have to do don't you; to make sure you never to this again?"

Ryan gulped slightly and gave a small nod. He was really nervous. He hasn't been spanked in a very, very long time. He can't even remember the last time he was spanked. It was mostly likely when the whole family was still together, before their father went to jail and everything fell apart.

He slowly stood up and Kirsten took his place.

"Bottoms down please."

"But Kirstin I'm-I'm only wearing my bathing suit." Ryan stuttered.

"I know." Kirsten said, "pull them down."

Ryan hesitated but pulled them down. He was guided over her lap almost immediately. Kirsten held the teenager securely over her lap before she started spanking him. She spanked with her hand for about a minute straight. She made sure to get every inch of his bottom; especially his under curve of his bottom.

Ryan was grunting and clutching the comforter of the bed. After the minute was up Kirsten stopped and picked up the spoon.

Ryan had thought it was over, but his thoughts were interrupted by the stinging swat of the wooden spoon on his warm backside. He whimpered and he started to kick a bit. Kirsten was spanking him for a solid two minutes with the spoon.

"Oww! Oww! Kirsten I'm sorry! I'm really, really sorry!" The tears stung but he was determined not to let them flow.

Once she reached a minute, she aimed to focus on his under curve, known as sit-spots. She continued for another minute right on the under curve. Once the last minute was up she dropped the spoon and rubbed his back.

"Shh Ryan its okay"

Ryan was now crying. He was very vulnerable. Kirsten cared enough to spank him and discipline him unlike his drunken mother who stopped caring so long ago.

Ryan stood up and pulled up his bathing suit. He looked at Kirsten with tears now finally rolling down his cheeks. She stood up and just wiped the tears from his cheeks.

With out any words Ryan just hugged Kirsten and they she held him for about five minutes.

After Ryan had calmed down, they both walked back in the house. Ryan walked straight to Elena and hugged her.

"Lena I'm so sorry for leaving you here alone."

Elena hugged him back. "It's okay Ryan."

Ryan shook his head, "no, no it's not. You're just nine years old and I left you."

She nodded. "No, Ryan, it is okay. I forgive you," she smiled.

He kissed her head.

"I love you so much Elena."

"I love you too Ryan."

"And…if you want, you can wear that bathing suit," he smiled.

She squealed and once again threw her arms around him.

"Thank you!"

Kirsten smiled at the sight. "I'm going to start dinner, Sandy should be home soon."

She walked into the kitchen with a warm smile growing bigger by the moment. Her family had grown from three to five and she couldn't have been more thrilled about it.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you want to see anything in particular feel free to suggest! And if you're wondering I am not having the Coopers in this story at all. And I'm still debating if I want to have Taylor….


	8. Chapter 8

Everyone was enjoying a wonderful home cooked meal, cooked by Kirsten herself. Seth looked over at Ryan who was clearly having a difficult time sitting in his chair.

Sandy noticed as well, "Ryan you okay?"

"Um yeah." Ryan answered as his face turned a light shade of red from embarrassment.

Seth decided to try and be funny.

"Ryan got spanked today, by mom," he smirked.

"Shut up Seth," Ryan grumbled.

"Yes Seth that is none of your business."

Kirsten demanded while giving him a warning look.

"Look, I'm just saying I thought I was still the only one getting spanked; clearly I'm not. That's why it was shocking for me to hear that you had spanked Elena for going to see Trey."

Seth said looking at Ryan then panning towards Elena.

Sandy wiped his mouth. "Well sometimes it's the old fashioned methods that work best."

Seth quietly cleared his throat and they just went back to eating.

Ryan started shifting again in his seat.

Seth noticed the pained look on Ryan's face. He stood up from his chair.

"I'll be right back." Seth smiled and ventured out of the kitchen.

Sandy looked over at Kirsten, "Sweetheart, I was hoping to go surfing tomorrow morning. Do you need me for anything?"

Kirsten smiled, "no, have fun."

Ryan lifted his head and looked at Sandy.

"Surfing? I didn't know you surfed."

"Oh yeah, for years now." He smiled.

"That's really cool; I've always wanted to try it."

Ryan replied running a hand through his ash blonde hair.

"Oh? Would you like to come with me? I'm going to get up around 5:30 in the morning though."

"Yeah that'll be so cool." Ryan smiled.

"Eww…5:30 in the morning; Ryan you better not wake me."

Elena said taking a bite of her spaghetti.

Ryan gave her a look and just shook his head. Elena was going to say something but stopped when Seth entered the room holding a pillow.

"Here, I have learned that this helps to make it easier to sit, especially on a wooden chair."

Ryan took the pillow and nodded gratefully.

"Thanks man."

He stood up and put the pillow on his seat and sat back down.

"Hey where's mine? I was spanked too you know." Elena pouted.

Seth chuckled. "It didn't look like you really needed one.

Elena nodded. "Yeah you're right I guess." She chuckled.

*****OCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOC*****

Sandy and Ryan were on the pier eating breakfast after a few hours of surfing.

"That was so much fun, thanks Sandy."

Ryan smiled as he took a sip of his coffee.

"No problem Ryan, It was fun."

Sandy paused for a second before speaking again.

"Look Kirstin and I have been thinking about what happened yesterday with Elena and how you ended up getting in trouble."

Ryan looked down at the table and blushed.

"Well, we want you to be just like any other 16 year old and have fun. If it's okay with you and Elena, we would like to move her in the house so she could have her own room. We would be solely responsible for her; we are not saying you couldn't look after your little sister; we just want you to be her big brother and not her father as well. What do you think?"

Ryan took about a minute to think about it. He smiled.

"Yeah Sandy, that would be great, thanks. But I want to talk it over with Elena first if that's okay."

"Yes of course that's okay. We want to make sure Elena is comfortable with that. As parental figures, we just may have to spank her at some point."

Ryan nodded, "yeah, she is quite used to that type of punishment, "he chuckled slightly, "me on the other hand, other than yesterday, I don't remember the last time I um…got spanked. I didn't think Kirsten had so much strength."

Sandy just chuckled as the waitress brought their food.

"Hey Sandy?"

"Yeah?" he smiled slightly.

"Thanks, for everything."

"You're welcome Ryan."

*****OCOCOCOCOCOCOC*****

Ryan and Sandy returned home later that afternoon. They heard Kirsten lecturing Seth in the kitchen.

"_Seth, how many times do I tell you to do your chores before you go out leave the house, period?" _

"_Umm a lot?" _

Sandy sighed hearing Kirsten and Seth.

"Hey Ryan can you take Elena and maybe go to a movie or something?" he asked handing him about fifty dollars.

"Uh sure Sandy thanks."

Sandy nodded and smiled. He walked off to the kitchen. Ryan walked in the living room and saw Elena watching TV.

"Hey munchkin, we're going to the movies."

Elena smiled and slipped on her sneakers. "Okay!" she grabbed his hand and he left with a smiled.

*****OCOCOCOCOCOCOCOC****

"Kirsten did I hear correctly? Did Seth leave the house _again_ before doing his chores?"

"Yes, he did. I took Elena out shopping for some new clothes. When we returned home, Seth was gone and his chores were not done; not even started."

Seth just looked at the floor while his parents discussed the situation.

"Seth Ezekiel," Sandy said sternly, "that's it, we've warned you over and over again; but, apparently our words aren't getting through to you."

Seth gulped knowing what was coming to him.

"Mom, Dad I'm sorry I won't do it again."

"That's right, and I'm going to make sure you don't."

Sandy gently grabbed his upper arm and exchanged spots with him on the kitchen chair. He pulled down his shorts and boxers to his knees and bent him over his lap. He picked up the wooden spoon that was on the counter behind him. Immediately he started to land stinging swats to his bottom. He made sure to get the most vulnerable part of his bottom; the under curve.

"Oww! Dad I'm sorry!" Seth yelled and kicked his legs.

"I know son, but you need to learn when we set a rule, we aren't doing it to simply hear ourselves talk.

"I know and I'm sorry, honest! Please stop, please stop! It hurts!"

"It's supposed to hurt young man that is why it's a punishment."

He spanked him for another good minute before he put down the spoon. He pulled up his boxers and shorts and stood him up. He gently cradled his head in his hands and looked in his eyes and wiped tears away with the pad of his thumb.

"Seth, I love you so much son."

Seth nodded and sniffled. "I love you too dad."

Sandy nodded and just hugged him. He held his son close for a good five minutes before they pulled apart.

"Go do your chores now son." Sandy smirked gently patting his face.

"Okay." He nodded and walked out of the kitchen.

Kirsten smiled and walked to Sandy wrapping her arms around him. "I love you."

"I love you too." He smiled kissing her head.


	9. Chapter 9

Ryan, Seth, Summer and Elena sat at the Cohen family kitchen table, eating a dinner Summer cooked up after a long day of painting. It had been approximately six days since Elena began moving into her very own room and the process of making it Elena's own space _still _wasn't done. Sandy and Kirsten offered to help but Summer insisted she help Elena with the painting and decorating. Summer had referred to her as the "sister she never had".

The room was coming along nicely, too. The walls, freshly painted pale green, were finished. A white plush throw rug was laid across the center of the room on top of the hardwood floors. The bed was made with the brand new comforter. A white side table sat next to the bed. The room was only a desk and drawer away from being done.

They all sat at the table, chatting mindlessly and eating when a thought struck Summer.

"Oh! Ryan, I forgot to tell you..tomorrow my best friend—Taylor, I told you about Taylor, didn't I?—is coming home. I wanted you guys to meet. Seth and I were talking about it and we think you'd really like her." Summer said before shoving a forkful of pasta into her mouth.

"Oh yeah?" Ryan said apprehensively.

"Yep. I think she's coming by here tomorrow and I thought we could like, go sailing or hit up the beach or grab dinner or something like that. Double date?" She suggested.

Ryan's eyebrows shot up. "A date, huh?"

"It's not that big of a deal, Ryan! It would mean a lot to me...Seth, too. Isn't that right, Seth?" Summer said, putting her arm around her boyfriend.

"Oh yeah, for sure." Seth said, seemingly disinterested in the conversation.

"Please, Ryan? Pretty please with sugar on top." Summer said, smiling sweetly.

"I..." Ryan paused. He liked Summer a lot, sure, but he knew next to nothing about the type of people she associated herself with aside from Seth. He didn't exactly fit into the Newport crowd, no matter how hard he tried.

She looked at him expectantly. "Well?" It was clear she wasn't going to let this go without at least _trying _to convince him.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Seth reminded him as he polished off his plate.

"Eh, I guess I can go. Why not?" Ryan said, shrugging.

"Yay! Thank you so much, Ryan. You're going to love her, I promise. Her name is Taylor Townsend, she's super pretty and super smart and..okay, she's kind of preppy and you're kind of..rough around the edges but trust me when I sa—"

"Summer, I think we get the point." Seth interrupted, causing Summer to smack his arm playfully.

"Shut up, Seth!"

Ryan chuckled and shook his head. "It's fine, it sounds fun."

"What about me?" Elena asked meekly, the disappointment over her exclusion evident on her face.

"I dunno, Lena. Probably hang at home with Kirsten and Sandy." Ryan replied. He was slowly attempting to begin the transition from father figure to brother—a concept that was difficult for both him and Elena to grasp.

Elena slumped her shoulders and hung her head but didn't press the subject any further. Summer took notice almost instantly and nudged Elena. "We should do a girls day sometime, you know? Me, you and Taylor. I'm sure you're going to love Taylor."

"Oh, yeah. Sounds great." Elena said through clenched teeth.

As unfair as Elena knew it was, she got the feeling she wasn't going to like this Taylor girl.

Taylor stood pacing in front of her vanity, chewing furiously on her previously perfectly manicured finger nails, for what seemed like hours. Her nerves were definitely shot. She had tried on roughly twenty different outfit combinations and nothing felt right. _Nothing_ seemed good enough. Her hair, flat ironed _at least _three times, still seemed too frizzy. Her frilly pink sun dress seemed like too much. Her shorts and tank top didn't seem like enough. Light, natural make-up made her feel like she wasn't trying hard enough. A decently hefty amount made her feel like a cheap hooker. She was, basically, a wreck.

It wasn't until Summer came bursting through the door, shopping bags in tow, that Taylor felt somewhat at ease.

"Here," Summer said, thrusting one of the plastic bags towards her. "Wear this. I'll do your hair and make-up when you're done, okay?"

"Thank you _so_ much, Summer! I am so lucky to have a friend like you." Taylor said, enveloping her arms around the petite brunette standing in front of her.

"Yeah, you are. Now get your butt in those clothes, we don't have much time!"

Taylor eagerly nodded her head and scurried into the bathroom. She pulled the dress out and balked at the sight of it. "Oh no, Sum. I don't know."

"Taylor, it's _just _a dress!"

"Yeah but, like, a super sparkly _sequined dress!_ I don't want him to think I—"

"Taylor, please. For me? Just try it on."

Taylor sighed. She knew she wasn't going to get out of this—Summer was nothing if not stubborn.

After about five minutes of back and forth, Summer desperately trying to convince Taylor to wear it while Taylor adamantly refused, Taylor's resolve deteriorated. She reluctantly stepped into the dress and turned around, looking in the mirror. Although she would _never _admit this to Summer, she was happy she listened to her. The dress fit perfectly _and _she did look pretty hot, if she did say so herself.

"Let me see!" Summer called from the other side of the door, anxiously jiggling the doorknob. "Taylor!"

Taylor emerged a few seconds later and Summer's face lit up at the sight of her. The silver, shimmery sequined dress hugged her curves perfectly and in all of the right places.

Taylor grinned, a newfound confidence instilled in her, and twirled for good measure. "What do you think?"

"Oh my god, it's perfect!" Summer squealed. "See? I told you. Didn't I?"

"I know, I know." Taylor took a step towards the vanity. "So, about my hair..."

********

Ryan stood in front of the mirror, trying his hand at tying a tie, when Elena walked through the door with a sullen expression on her face.

"Ryan, do you have to go? I mean, what about me?"

"What _about y_ou?"

"Ryan!"

"I'm joking, Lena. You and Kirsten and Sandy are going to rent a movie and hang out."

"But Ryan, it's not fair! You guys are going to go out and have fun without me." Elena whined, throwing herself onto Ryan's bed dramatically, much to his dismay.

"Elena, enough." He said sharply. "We've been through this. I'm older than you and—"

"But!"

"Elena, I said enough."Ryan said dismissively, his patience running thin.

"Fine. But, I mean, what do you even know about this girl? For all you know, she could be some psycho serial killer!"

"She's Summer's best friend."

"So?"

"I'll keep an eye out, okay? Don't worry about me." Ryan said, laughing. "Here, help me with this tie, please?"

"Fine," Elena reluctantly stood up and walked over to where her brother was standing. "Why are you even wearing a tie, anyway? Where are you going?"

"Just out to dinner but Summer told me—and I quote—not to look "homeless". So, there's that."

Elena giggled. "Well, the tie is a start."

About thirty seconds later, Elena put the finishing touches on the tie. Ryan grinned and placed a kiss on his little sisters forehead. "Thanks, squirt. I love you. Have fun tonight, okay?"

Elena didn't say anything, simply rolled her eyes as Ryan disappeared out of the pool house and into the kitchen.

She loved Kirsten and Sandy but she knew it was going to be a long night.

"I'm nervous, Sum. What if he doesn't like me?" Taylor asked quietly as they sat in Seth's car, eagerly awaiting their dates.

"Taylor, what is with you? Who is this neurotic, paranoid girl and what has she done with my best friend?"

"Summer, I've always been neurotic!" Taylor practically screamed

Summer giggled. "I guess you have, huh? Look, don't worry. He's going to love you."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Then he's an idiot. Now here he comes." Summer said, gesturing towards Seth and Ryan's approaching silhouettes. Taylor let out a deep breath. She knew next to nothing about the boy, aside from what Summer briefed her on about his past.

"Okay. Don't let me embarrass myself." She whispered to Summer who nodded in response.

When the car headlight hit Ryan's face, the knot in Taylor stomach grew even bigger. "He's way cuter than you said he was!" She said to Summer, who giggled before putting her finger to her lips and shushing her.

When the car door opened, Ryan smiled warmly at her before climbing into the car next to her. He let out a nervous chuckle and extended his hand out. "Ryan. You must be Taylor."

"Taylor. Yes." She choked out.

Summer snorted from the front seat, causing Taylor to kick her chair. "Sorry," she said quietly.

They drove to the restaurant in silence. Seth turned the radio on about halfway through which eased some of the awkward tension. When they arrived, the valet took the car while Seth and Ryan held the door open for their respective dates.

It wasn't until they were settled into their seats, though, that an actual conversation took place. "So, Ryan..you have a little sister, Summer said?

"Yes, Elena." Ryan smiled. "She wanted to come but I said no."

"Aw, you should have brought her!" Taylor said, laughing a little. "I always wanted a little sister."

"She can be a pain in the butt," Ryan admitted. "But, I mean, I don't think there's anything I wouldn't do for her."

"How old is she?"

"Nine."

"That's about how old we were when we met, Tay." Summer said, giggling at the memory.

From that point on, the awkwardness had died down completely. Taylor told Ryan all about how she and Summer met, how she used to have the _biggest _crush on Seth (which caused Seth to blush) and about her dysfunctional and strained relationship with her mother. Ryan told Taylor all about Elena, his mother, even his brother. They talked a little bit about school, Taylor's summer trip across Europe and places to go (and avoid) in Newport.

After they were finished eating, they all decided to go mini-golfing. Summer felt ridiculous mini-golfing in a cocktail dress but Taylor insisted, urging her best friend to let loose a little. Summer rolled her eyes but reluctantly agreed. Two games and an ice cream cone later, they all began to walk back to the car.

Like a cliche out of a cheesy romantic comedy, Ryan tugged his jacket off of himself and draped it around Taylor's shoulders as the air grew cooler and the wind began to pick up. A smile crept onto Taylor's face and she shook her head. "You don't have to do that, Ryan."

"No, no, I want to." He said with a crooked grin.

"Thank you," she practically whispered. "You're sweet, you know that?"

Ryan shoved his hands into his pant pockets and smiled bashfully. He looked embarrassed, nervous—shy, even.

Seth snaked his arm around Summer's waist as he turned around and whispered to Ryan, "thanks for making me look bad, Atwood!"

"Sorry," Ryan mouthed, amused.

They all climbed into the car and headed to Taylor's house to drop her off. Ryan walked her to the front door while Seth and Summer practically bumped heads to catch a glimpse of the two.

"Thank you, Ryan. I had a lovely time tonight." Taylor said quietly when they reached her door.

"I did, too." Ryan said. "Can I call you?"

"Of course you can."

"Do you want to..um, go out again? Maybe, like, Friday night or something?"

"I would love to." She said, grinning.

"Okay, well..I'll call you." He took a step towards her and placed his hands on both sides of her face. She froze and her eyelids began to flutter shut. She stood there, anticipating his lips on hers, when she felt his lips brush up against her cheek. She couldn't help but feel disappointed despite the fact that she, too, didn't want to rush into anything and she could practically feel Summers eyes burning a hole in the back of her head. "Goodnight, Taylor Townsend."

"Goodnight, Ryan Atwood." She said breathlessly.


	10. Chapter 10

Summer waited outside of the Cohen family house, anxiously drumming her fingers against the steering wheel as she waited for Elena. Summer had their entire day planned—she, Elena and Taylor were going to go get their nails done, grab some lunch, go shopping and then get their hair done. She knew it seemed a bit excessive but she wanted Elena to take to Taylor, for everyone's sake. Especially Ryan's.

A few minutes later Elena walked out, her hair tied back in a loose braid, a yellow sundress and a pair of simple white sandals on.

"Hey, Lena! You excited?" Summer asked when Elena climbed into the car.

Elena nodded, forcing herself to smile. "Yeah!"

"Okay, we're going to go pick Taylor up and then we'll go to the salon, sound good?"

"Great!" She lied. She was, after all, less than thrilled at the idea of spending her entire day with this Taylor girl. She didn't want to seem rude, though, especially towards Summer who was always so generous and always went out of her way to be friendly towards her. She had to, at the very least, pretend to be excited about it.

They arrived at Taylor's house roughly ten minutes later. Summer honked the horn and Taylor practically skipped out of the house, the excitement evident on her face. Elena took one look at her and decided she was justified in not liking her; she was beautiful, sure, but her outfit was practically screaming look at me! Look how rich, snotty and pretentious I am! Besides, the grin on her face was so obviously fake.

She climbed into the front seat next to Summer and Elena let out a barely audible groan.

"Hi!" Taylor smiled brightly at Elena, oblivious to Elena's glares, and eagerly extended her hand out. "Elena, right?"

Elena stared at her for a second, an unreadable expression on her face, before leaning forward and attentively taking it. "That's me," she replied, not bothering to hide the irritation in her voice.

"It's so nice to meet you! I'm Taylor."

"Yeah, I know." Elena said indifferently before not to so subtly rolling her eyes.

"Okay," Taylor said slowly, slinking into her seat, clearly uncomfortable. After a long silence, she opted to change the subject. "So...are you excited about school?"

"Nope," Elena said dismissively before crossing her arms and staring out the window.

Yep, it was long to be a long day.

Two hours and a mani-pedi later, Taylor, Summer and Elena were waiting for a table at the restaurant across the street from the nail salon. The trip to the nail salon went relatively smoothly, all things considered—mostly because Elena refused to talk and the booths in which their nails were getting painted were a few feet apart. There, were, of course, a few minor hiccups, the biggest one being the hateful glares Elena kept shooting Taylor. Taylor looked to Summer for support, but she was too wrapped up in the nail technician's analysis of last night's episode of the Valley to take notice.

After about a fifteen minute wait, the hostess sat everyone. They all sat down, Elena making it a point to sit as far away from Taylor as she possibly could, while Summer eagerly began thumbing through a menu. It wasn't until Summer mentioned her hunger and how amazing their chicken alfredo was that any of them spoke.

"Their food is delicious," Taylor agreed as she stared down at her menu. She carefully glanced up at Elena. "Have you ever been here, Elena?"

"What, you think because I'm from Chino, I couldn't afford a place like this?" Elena snapped defensively, a scowl forming on her face.

"C'mon, Elena, she didn't mean it like that." Summer spoke up, placing her hand on top of Elena's.

"Sure sounded that way to me," Elena replied icily, the scowl not leaving her face.

"I assure you I didn't," Taylor said, shaking her head furiously. She wasn't sure what to say but Elena was still staring at her so she felt compelled to say something. She swallowed thickly, hoping, praying she wouldn't stick her foot in her mouth. "I'm sorry if I offended you."

Elena's expression softened slightly, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she began scanning through the menu.

After about ten minutes, they all placed their orders and Summer and Taylor began chatting mindlessly about their school schedules. They were careful to not exclude Elena from the conversation, but Elena didn't seem very talkative. After their food came and they all finished eating, Elena excused herself to go to the bathroom.

"Why does Elena hate me?" Taylor asked in a harsh whisper when she was certain Elena was out of earshot.

"I don't know," Summer said, even though it sounded more like a question than an answer. "Did you do anything to piss her off?"

"I, um.." She knew she could be a bit abrasive and neurotic at times and she had a tendency of sticking her foot in her mouth, but she certainly didn't think she did anything to make Elena act cold towards her; did she? No, of course not. She barely knew the girl. "No!"

"Look, Taylor, her brother is all she ever had. She probably just feels threatened. Don't worry about it. She'll get over it eventually. There's nothing you can do except be nice to her and hope she gets over it sooner rather than later," Summer explained apologetically.

"Hope?!" Taylor shouted incredulously before pinching the bridge of her nose and letting out a shaky breath. "Look, Summer..I really like Ryan. I want this to work."

"I'll talk to her later about it, Tay. Just relax. I promise you, you're over thinking this whole thing."

"I hope you're right."

After they finished up lunch, they went to the outlets. The uncomfortable silence on the ride there was almost too much to bear, but somehow, they all managed. When they arrived, they opted to go to Ralph Lauren first. Elena was hesitant at first, knowing full well how expensive their clothing was, but Summer insisted.

"Elena, we've been through this! You're the little sister I never had," she told her, linking their arms together. "Besides this is, like, the only positive to school starting back up again."

Elena made a face. "yeah-school."

Summer chuckled giving her a one armed hug as Taylor just stood by awkwardly. Summer looked over at Taylor and motioned her to try to get involved in the bonding moment. Taylor nodded and she smiled hooking her arm with Elena's free arm. Elena though didn't like that very much. She yanked her arm away and slightly pushed Taylor.

"What the hell are you doing!?"

Taylor was lost for words.

"I don't like you! Stop trying to get me to like you! Sure my brother likes you but that doesn't mean I have to like you! So don't touch me again you stuck up bitch!"

Summer was as well very shocked up her face scrunched in a scowl and grabbed Elena's upper arm and started to lead her out of the outlet mall. Taylor followed slowly behind trying not to cry.

"Elena you sit in the back of the car and do NOT say a word until we get back to your house is that understood?" Summer's tone was soft but firm. Elena never seen her so mad. She just nodded.

Taylor got into the passenger side as Summer got into the driver's side. The car was silent, all you can hear was the hum of the engine and the tires on the road. Summer dropped Taylor off and gave her a hug and an apologetic look. Once Taylor went inside her house Summer took off towards the Cohen's house. As soon as she parked the car Elena jumped out and scurried into the house as fast as possible.

"Hey how'd it go?" Ryan asked Elena as she sped pass him and not even acknowledging him. Ryan looked puzzled then looked at Summer who just walked in the house. The expression on her face told him everything was not okay.

Summer sat down with Ryan, Seth, Sandy and Kirsten and told them the events of their outing.

Ryan was pissed to say the least. "Oh she is in so much trouble!" Ryan shot up from his chair but Sandy's arm stopped him.

"Ryan…" Sandy said and just looked at him with an 'I'll take care of this look'. Ryan nodded and sat back down as Sandy stood up. He walked out of the kitchen just to return a second later.

"What is it Sandy?" Kirsten asked as he was looking through a drawer.

"I forgot something." He mumbled and pulled out a wooden spoon and ventured back out of the kitchen. He knocked on Elena's door but didn't wait for a response to enter.

Elena looked at him then noticed the spoon in his hand and her eyes widened.


	11. Chapter 11

Elena stood up instinctively as Sandy started to walk closer to her. "Sandy no I'm sorry!"

He set the spoon down on the bed and crossed his arms looking down at the child. "Elena, why in the world would you be so disrespectful and rude to someone?" He asked, the disappointment evident in his voice.

Elena responded by looking down and shrugging her shoulders. Sandy sighed and carefully tilted her chin up to make her look at him. "I want a verbal answer young lady and I'm not going to settle for 'I don't know'. Now tell me why you would act like that towards Taylor."

Elena's bottom lip quivered as she was trying to find the explanation. "She-she-she took Ryan from me!"

Sandy frowned and shook his head. "No Elena she's not."

"Yeah she is!" She repeated and buried her face in her hands.

Sandy stepped closer to her and pulled her close with one arm. "Elena honey no she isn't. You have to understand that Ryan needs to go out with just his friends and his girl friend. But honey it doesn't mean that he's not here for you."

Elena sniffled and looked up at him with her big blue eyes filled with tears. "Really?"

He gave a nod with a small smile which immediately turned into a frown. "But Elena, you're behavior today is not going to go un-punished. I'm sorry but I'm going to spank you."

Elena wanted to argue but she kept to herself. "O-okay Sandy"

Sandy sat down on her bed and motioned for her to come closer to him. As soon as Elena was standing right by his side he gently pulled her shorts down and they fell to her ankles. He then laid her over his lap and grabbed the waistband of her panties.

She gasped and she reached back desperately trying to keep them up. "Sandy, please!" she begged.

Sandy's heart was breaking but he knew he had to do this. "Move your hands Elena. Now."

Elena let out a whimper as she moved her hands away from her backside. Sandy slid down her panties to the middle of her thighs which sent chills down Elena's spine.

He immediately started with the spoon; he didn't give a warm up with his hand like he normally does. He was only on swat 10 and Elena was whining and kicking. Her previously pale bottom was now turning a light hue of pink.

"Sandy I'm sorry! I'll be good!" She cried clinging onto her bedding.

As much as Sandy wanted to stop he knew that he needed to go just a little bit longer to make sure she got the point. He was only about 45 seconds in and was only going to go for a minute. The swats kept getting harder and lower towards her thighs and sit-spots.

"Ah! I'm sorry! Daddy I'm sorry!" Elena cried out not even realizing what she said, but Sandy caught it right away which made him stop. He was shocked to say the least; but he did pull up her panties and carefully sat her on his lap with her sore and pink bottom hanging off his leg. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder.

"Shh…it's okay now you're forgiven honey." He whispered and rocked her in his arms attempting to calm her down.

After a few minutes Elena was finally calm and realized she called him daddy but didn't want to say anything, she just acted like it never happened. Sandy wasn't going to bring it up to her either, he was just going to wait until she brought it up if she ever did.

Sandy kissed her forehead. "Alright sweetie, take a few minutes to freshen up then I want you to come downstairs and apologize to Summer and Ryan, then Ryan is going to take you over to apologize to Taylor in person understand?"

Elena sniffled and nodded wiping the last of her tears. "Do-do you think Ryan hates me?"

Sandy gave her a warm smile. "Of course he doesn't hate you Elena. He was just upset. Now do as I told you." He smiled and walked out of the room and back downstairs to join everyone.

OCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOC OC

About fifteen minutes later Elena walked downstairs to the kitchen after she freshened up. She walked behind Ryan and wrapped her arms around his neck giving him a hug. "I'm sorry Ryan. I'm sorry that I was so rude to Taylor." She then looked up at Summer. "and I'm sorry Summer for being rude to your best friend and ruining the day. Can you forgive me?"

Summer smiled warmly and walked over to her and gave her a hug. "Of course I do."

Ryan stood up and also hugged Elena. "Okay Lena you ready to go? We have to apologize to Taylor."

Elena nodded.

OCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOC

A tearful Taylor opened the door to see Ryan. She quickly wiped her eyes and sniffled. "Ryan, hey." She forced a smiled.

Ryan smiled sympathetically. "Hey Taylor, someone wants to say something to you." He stepped aside and Elena walked up the couple steps.

Taylor sniffled. "Elena Hey." She said.

"Taylor I'm really, really sorry for what I said to you. You didn't deserve it. I guess I just got jealous. I'm so sorry. You really are a cool person." She smirked.

Taylor brightened up. "It's okay. I understand."

Elena smiled and held out her hand. "Friends?"

Taylor took her hand. 'Friends."

Elena squealed and hugged her. "Yay!"

Ryan smiled to himself.

A/N: sorry if it's a little rough and that its short! And so sorry for the wait! I hope you guys like it!


	12. Chapter 12

A few hours later, Kirsten and Sandy found themselves sitting alone at the kitchen table, rehashing the day's events and basking in the peace and quiet.

Sandy told her all about the conversation he had with Elena, about her punishment, about her tearful apology. After all was said and done, though, Sandy couldn't shake the sneaking suspicion that he was forgetting something – something important. After a long, pregnant pause, it finally struck him.

"She called me daddy."

Kirsten looked at Sandy with a bemused expression. "What?"

"Elena...she was upset, when I was punishing her, and it just...slipped. I don't think she even realized she said it." Sandy said, acting as though he was unaffected by her slip up, although Kirsten could see right through him.

Sandy carefully avoided his wife's gaze, unsure of how she'd react. He knew that she thought the world of both Elena and Ryan, but he also knew that she was a bit leery of letting them live there in the first place. He didn't want to make it seem like he was trying to guilt her into anything, but he felt like she deserved to know.

"Sandy, look at me." Kirsten said softly, placing her hand on top of her husbands. "I've been thinking..."

"Yeah?"

"I think we should make it official. This...arrangement with Ryan and Elena."

Sandy gaped at her. "You mean–"

"I think we should adopt them," Kirsten confirmed, her eyes welling with tears.

Sandy blinked, an unreadable expression on his face, before leaning across the table and pressing his lips to hers. "You're an amazing woman, Mrs. Cohen."

Kirsten smiled tearfully, resting her forehead against her husband's. "They're two amazing kids. Two amazing kids who have put up with far too much for far too long."

"You're damn right they have," he let out a shaky laugh. "We're really doing this?"

Kirsten giggled, blinking away the tears. "We're really doing this. We'll make it official tomorrow but we tell them over breakfast."

"I love you. You know that, right?"

Kirsten giggled, letting out a sarcastic "um, yeah," before kissing Sandy on the lips and whispering, "I love you, too."

Early the next morning, Kirsten found herself in Elena's room, gently shaking the little girl awake and urging her to join the rest of the family for breakfast. She usually didn't mind if Elena slept but she felt like a little kid on Christmas morning – she had to tell Elena the big news.

"Lena...Lena, sweetheart, wake up."

Elena propped herself up on her elbows, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Yeah?"

"There's something Sandy and I want to tell you and Ryan. Ryan's waiting downstairs."

All of the color drained from Elena's face – she feared this day ever since she stepped foot in the Cohen's house, but she was still holding onto a shred of hope that maybe, just maybe, they'd let her stay...that they'd be a family, her, Sandy, Kirsten, Ryan, and Seth. The family she never had. She should've known better.

"Lena, sweetheart, are you alright?" Kirsten placed her hand on Elena's forehead when she noticed her pale complexion, checking to make sure she didn't have a temperature.

Elena forced a smile and nodded her head, crawling out from underneath her sheets. "I'm okay, Kirsten, really." she lied before taking the older woman's hand and heading down the steps.

When they entered the kitchen, Seth and Ryan were busy chatting mindlessly over some video game, while Sandy had his head buried in a newspaper. When his eyes met Elena's, his entire face lit up. "Elena! There you are. Here, sit, sweetie."

Elena reluctantly sat down, petrified of the big news they were about to share, and Kirsten quickly slipped into the chair next to her. After a beat, Sandy cleared his throat and snapped his fingers in front of Seth and Ryan to get their attention.

"Okay, Ryan, Elena, Seth...there was something we wanted to tell you." Kirsten said, reaching across the table and linking her fingers with her husband's.

Ryan and Seth looked at Kirsten and Sandy expectantly while Elena refused to meet their gaze.

"Elena, Ryan...we want to adopt you." Sandy said softly, clearly overcome with emotion. "Does that..sound like something you'd like?"

"You mean you're not making us leave?" Elena managed to choke out after a long pause.

"What? No, sweetie. Why would you think that?" Kirsten asked, a sad smile forming on her face.

"I guess...I don't know, I just...I guess I thought after what happened last night."

Sandy shook his head and placed a reassuring hand on Elena's shoulder. "Of course not, sweetheart."

Kirsten nodded in agreement before looking at Ryan and then Elena. "What do you guys think?"

A tear slipped down Elena's cheek as she wrapped her arms around Kirsten's neck. "Are you kidding me? Of course we would! Isn't that right, Ryan?"

Ryan nodded his head furiously. "Are...are you guys sure, though?"

"Never been more sure of anything in my life," Kirsten said softly, placing a kiss on Elena's forehead.

Seth clapped Ryan on the shoulder, a large smile on his face. "Dude! This is so cool! We'll be, like, brothers!"

"Dude, we already are like brothers," Ryan deadpanned.

"Oh...well, yeah but...with this, it will be official." Seth said, causing Elena and Kirsten to giggle.

"We're going to get the paper work for it later today," Sandy said. "We have to fill some stuff out, then we'll go in front of a judge, have your birth certificates switched over and you'll officially be Cohen's."

"Will the judge approve it?" Ryan asked seriously, worry lines creasing his face.

"Don't you worry about that, Ryan." Kirsten assured him, giving his hand a squeeze.

The week came and went rather quickly and before anyone knew it, it was Saturday night. The paperwork for the impending adoption was all filled out and sent in, all that was left was a court date.

Sandy insisted Ryan and Seth go out and have some fun while Kirsten took Elena on a girls night, just the two of them. Unlike most teenagers their age, they weren't eagerly chomping at the bit to go out and party, but Summer and Taylor told them about a party a couple of neighborhoods away and both of them were far too whipped to say no.

By the time nine o'clock rolled around, the four were walking through the front door of a beach side mansion. There were dozens upon dozens of kids, seniors, freshmen, and juniors alike, piled into the living room, dining room and kitchen. The music was blaring and before Seth was able to utter so much as a word, Summer pecked him on the lips and grabbed Taylor's hand.

"We're gonna go dance, okay?" She shouted through the music.

Taylor threw Ryan an apologetic glance and Ryan just smirked, knowing how persistent and stubborn Summer could be.

Seth frowned. "But, Summer–"

She ignored his protests and blew him a kiss. "We'll meet up in a few, okay?"

He sighed and just like that, she was disappearing into the crowd. "Okay, then," he said flatly when Summer was out of earshot before he turned to Ryan and clapped him on the shoulder, muttering, "Lets go grab a drink or something."

They began making their way through the house. There were kegs at every corner, teenagers making out on every couch, bikini clad women dancing on every table. The entire place wreaked of hormones and stale beer – it was, in short, awful – but Seth sauntered through the house with his head held high, determined to have, at the very least, some semblance of a good time, with Ryan poised at his side.

He walked over to one of the, what he assumed was beer, stations and grabbed two red plastic cups, before handing one over to Ryan. He pulled the tap forward with his cup resting beneath the spickett and it began to fill with a white, foamy liquid. He stared at it for a few seconds before slowly bringing it to his lips and taking a dainty sip. His nose scrunched up at the taste.

"Tip it," he heard a voice say behind him. He whipped his head around to see a medium build boy with light brown hair and dark brown eyes standing there, arms crossed.

"Okay...wait, huh?" Seth frowned.

"Tip the cup. That's how you avoid the foam. Here, hand it over." He held his hand out and Seth exchanged an apprehensive glance with Ryan before reluctantly handing the cup over.

The boy slowly tipped the cup and lifted the tap forward. After a few seconds, the cup was filled to the brim with foamless beer.

"Thanks, dude." Seth said, admittedly surprised by a Newport kids random act of kindness – Seth figured he and Ryan had targets on their backs, mostly because they stuck out like sore thumbs in a house filled to the brim with Abercrombie looking assholes – but grateful all the same.

"No problem," the boy replied before extending his hand out for Seth to shake it. "I'm Dave, by the way. You're Seth Cohen, right?"

"Yeah, how did you...?"

"Uh, you see that asshole over there?" he pointed into the crowd, before adding, "That's my cousin."

Seth craned his neck and scanned the crowd, following the boys line of sight. He kept looking and looking until finally he saw a tall, buff blonde standing in the middle of the crowded living room, chatting up some desperate freshmen. Wait a second, "Luke?"

"Uh huh. He kinda had the hots for your girlfriend, was pretty bent out of shape about you two dating," he laughed, almost as if he took pleasure in seeing his cousin upset.

"You guys don't seem –"

"Anything alike? I can't really explain it, either," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Just one of those things, I guess. I mean, I wouldn't normally even come to these types of things, but I kinda live here. My parents, they actually encouraged me to throw the party, thought it'd help me make friends."

"Really?" Ryan asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Parents of the year," he said flatly before gesturing towards himself. "They think I don't fit in."

It wasn't until the kid pointed it out that Seth noticed just how out of place he, too, looked. He was wearing a flannel shirt, a pair of torn up jeans and a frayed, beat old pair of chucks – definitely a far cry from the usual Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton attire sported by kids from families like his.

Seth smiled politely, unsure of what else to say, before turning to Ryan. "Uh, sorry, I didn't introduce you guys. This is my brother, Ryan..."

The kid looked surprised. "Brother? You guys don't look anything like."

"Just one of those things, I guess." Seth said, causing the kid – Dave – to chuckle.

"You want somethin' to drink, too?" Dave asked, glancing over at Ryan.

"Uh, I don't know if I should," he said uneasily, looking over at Seth, who subsequently gave him an encouraging nod. "Alright, I guess I'll have one."

"You go to Harbor, too?" Dave asked, filling Ryan's cup up.

"Will be, this year."

"Me too," Dave said before handing the red plastic cup over to Ryan. He grinned before raising his own up in the air. "To...uh, to... high school, I guess."

"To high school!" Seth and Ryan concurred, clinking their cups together before throwing what was left of them back into their throat.

"Wow, that was...disgusting." Seth grimaced, wiping at his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Another one?" Dave asked with a knowing, crooked grin.

"Sure. One more couldn't hurt."

A few minutes after Seth polished off his second beer, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket with a text. Inside it read: We r outside right now. Taylor had girl emrgncy & I cldnt find u in there. Can u catch a ride w/sum1 or do u want 2 me to drop u guys off now? xo Sum. He frowned and considered it for a second before writing back: dont worry abt it, we'll find a ride :) and made sure nobody was looking before he tacked on a quick "xo" and shoved his phone back into his pocket.

The rest of the night went by rather quickly and the two soon to be brothers, surprisingly, found themselves having a good time, nursing beers and talking about all sorts of things, ranging from school to comic books to music to movies. It wasn't even until Seth was on roughly his ninth beer that he really started to feel the effects of the alcohol. His speech became slurred, every lame attempt at a joke sounded like the funniest thing he had ever heard, and he was pretty sure that if he didn't get up and go pee in that very moment, he was going to wind up pissing his pants.

He quietly excused himself and slipped into the bathroom, throwing some water on his face. He knew he was pretty much all but spent, far too drunk and tired to stay there any longer, and he returned to the table with the intention of telling Ryan just that, but he was quickly convinced to drink just one shot.

One shot, however, quickly turned into three, and Seth was certain he wouldn't even be able to sit up straight, let alone get home in on piece. Although a majority of the kids had already filtered out and all that was left were a couple of stoners (Dave's friends, Seth later found out), eager to impress freshmen, and a smattering of popular rich kids, Luke just so happened to be one of them. Dave offered Seth and Ryan a bed to crash in, but they both refused, knowing full well being in such close proximity to Luke for an extended period of time probably wouldn't end well and that Kirsten and Sandy probably wouldn't feel comfortab – wait, Kirsten and Sandy.

"What time is it?" Seth asked, panicked, before fishing in his pocket for his own phone. He pulled it out and flipped it open with trembling hands, his eyes wide with fear. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit."

"What's wrong?" Ryan slurred, peeking over Seth's shoulder. The screen read: 13 missed calls, with the time "1:42AM" written in bold, black letters.

The two quickly called a cab and said their goodbyes to Dave, Seth drunkenly insisting they'd keep in touch, that he'd look for him when they got back to school, and they climbed in. Not even five minutes later, the cab pulled into the Cohen's driveway, and Ryan and Seth all but froze at the sight in front of them – an entirely lit up house.

After a long pause, the cab driver looked back at them with his palm extended out and a scowl on his face. "C'mon, kid, I don't have all day," the guy said gruffly, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.

Seth made a face and slapped thirty bucks into the guys hand before stumbling out of the cab, Ryan following suit. "It'll be fine," Ryan assured Seth as they made their way up the stone walkway, his arm looped firmly around Seth's neck in an attempt to stand upright. "Just...act normal, right? Say we got...lost or something like that. I don't know."

Seth bristled, nodding his head furiously, suddenly unabashedly confident that they could get away with this – so much so that it bordered on delusional. "You're right, we'll be fine."

"Yep–" Ryan began to say, but was quickly cut off by the front door flinging open.

Sandy stood in the doorway, an unreadable expression on his face. "In the house. Now."

Yeah, they were screwed.


	13. Chapter 13

"Drinking? Are you guys crazy?" Sandy stood in front of the living room fireplace, pacing back and forth with disheveled hair and a menacing scowl on his face. "2:15 in the morning. 2:15 in the morning!"

"Daddy? What's going on?" A tired Elena stood in the living room doorway, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Sandy's expression visibly softened at the sight of a groggy and visibly shaken Elena. He looked to Kirsten, who was already rushing to Elena's side.

"Nothing, sweetie, your brothers just decided to do something stupid." He said, shooting Ryan and Seth a pointed look, before looking back at Elena with a warm smile.

"Lets get you too bed, sweetheart." Kirsten said softly, enveloping Elena into her arms.

"Can I sleep with you, mommy?" Elena asked, yawning as she took Kirsten's hand.

Kirsten smiled a watery smile before placing a kiss on Elena's forehead. "Of course you can."

Sandy cleared his throat and took a step towards Ryan and Seth. "I can handle this down here, Kirsten. You two go get some sleep."

"Dad, can we go now?" Seth piped up from his spot on the couch, meeting Sandy's gaze with narrowed eyes.

"No, you cannot go now." Sandy said incredulously, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Oh, come on dad. Like you never got drunk at sixteen!" He slurred, rolling his eyes for good measure.

"Yeah, I did, but you damn well better believe I was in the same position you're in now." Sandy hissed, causing Seth to scoff. "I would watch it if I were you."

"Yeah, okay."

"Seth.." Ryan murmered, exasperated. "Just stop, man, you're just making it worse."

"Yeah, that's rich, coming from the son of a lush and all. Y'know what they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Ryan's clenched his jaw as he stood up from his spot on the couch. "What did you just say to me?"

Seth stumbled off of the couch, too. "You heard me," he spat bitterly. "Better watch out for Elena too, right? It's only a matter of time."

Ryan cocked his arm back and thrust it forward, his clenched fist making contact with Seth's face.

"What the fuck, Ryan!" Seth screamed, pressing his fingers against his now bleeding lower lip.

"Boys, that's enough!" Sandy interjected, stepping infront of Ryan so as to seperate the pair. "Seth, upstairs. Ryan, bed, now! Sleep it off, and I'll deal with you two in the morning."

Sandy padded up the steps and made his way into the master bedroom, smiling softly at the sight infront of him – a sleeping Elena curled up at Kirsten's side. Kirsten, too, was dozing off but perked up at the sight of Sandy, who appeared restless and disgusted.

"What the hell happened down there?" she asked, before glancing down at Elena to make sure she was still sleeping. She stirred a little but her eyes remained closed and a light snore could be heard just a few seconds later.

"They got into a fist fight. Well, sort of. Ryan landed the only punch."

Kirsten gasped. "They….what? Over what, exactly?"

"Seth started talking about Ryan's family and–"

"Oh, God."

"Yep."

"What did you do?"

"I told them to sleep it off and that we'd deal with it in the morning. What's the point in punishing them if they're–"

"Not going to remember it the next morning." Kirsten finished for him.

Sandy nodded. "Well, we oughta get some sleep. They'll be getting an early wake up call tomorrow."

He leaned over and brushed his lips against Kirsten's before walking over to his side of the bed and crawling under the sheets.

"Rise and shine, Seth!" Sandy's voice echoed through Seth's room as he tore the comforter from his son in one swift motion.

"Keep it down, dad, please." Seth moaned, burying his head into the pillow and wrapping his arm around himself.

"Nope. Up, right now. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you."

Seth's head felt so, so cloudy and he could sense in Sandy's voice that something wasn't quite right. He thought back to last night – a rager at a beach house a few streets down, Summer and Taylor left, they met some kid, something happened with Luke Ward, beer, beer, beer, shots, beer, and – suddenly, he jolted upwards. "Okay, I'm up." He sighed heavily as he carefully looked around his room. "Um, dad…have you, uh…have you seen my pants?"

"No, Seth." Sandy sighed. "I haven't seen your pants."

Seth's face lit up as he saw them strewn across his dresser drawer. He was grateful that he, in his drunken haze, had managed to wait until he was actually inside of the bedroom before undressing. He quickly snatched them up and slipped into them before following his father down the steps and into the kitchen, where Ryan and Kirsten were already waiting.

"You guys know why we called you down here." Kirsten said, giving both her son and her son-to-be a disappointed look.

"M-mom, dad, I….." Seth said, splaying his hand across his forehead as he slipped into the chair nearest Ryan. "I can explain. Everything that happened last night."

"Nobody's stopping you, Seth." Kirsten said.

Seth opened his mouth to speak before careful ly glancing over at Ryan, who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. "Mom, dad." Seth said again slowly, hoping Ryan would interrupt or Elena would come waltzing through the door, but nothing. The tension in the room was palpable and the anger was practically radiating off of his mother, who was looking at him expectantly, and he knew he had to choose his words very carefully.

"How much did you two have to drink last night?" Kirsten asked before he was able to say anything else.

"A lot," he admitted before glancing over at Ryan, who nodded his head in agreement.

Sandy heaved a sigh as he ran his hand through his hair. "What the hell were you two thinking? Hm? Staying out until 2:30am and showing up here drunk? And on top of it, getting into a fist fight?"

"We weren't," Ryan answered quickly, while Seth solemnly nodded his head in agreement. Wait a second. A fist fight?

"What are…" Seth began to ask but stopped mid-sentence, clamping his hand over his mouth.

They all slowly looked over at Seth, who's face was growing greener and greener by the second. He quickly stood up and bolted from the kitchen chair over towards the trash can, but he missed it by a good foot as he emptied the contents of his stomach onto the kitchen floor.

Kirsten cringed and slowly closed her eyes while Sandy shook his head, disgusted.

"Clean it up," Kirsten said, slipping out of her seat at the head of the table and placing her now empty mug onto the island. She heard a throat clear behind her and she quickly whipped her head around to see a moritifed Elena standing there, her nose scrunched up in disgust and her browns knitted together in confusion.

"Is everything okay?"

"Fine," Kirsten smiled but, despite Kirsten's best efforts to prove otherwise, Elena still sensed something wasn't quite right. She looked over at Seth, who was hunched over the trash can with vomit caked to his face and then over at Ryan, who was absent mindedly staring down at the table. Kirsten exchanged glances with Sandy before putting a comforting hand on Elena's shoulder. "Why don't I make you some pancakes, and we'll eat out by the pool?"

Elena visibly brightened at the mention of pancakes and all was soon forgotten as she eagerly nodded her head and disappeared out into the back, dipping her feet into the pool as soon as she felt the blistering heat.

Under normal circumstances, Seth would smirk and (lovingly) warn Elena about the quality of their mothers pancakes, but this wasn't a normal circumstance. His head was aching and spinning, simultaneously, his lip was, for reasons unbeknownst to him, throbbing, there was (his) vomit all over the floor and he was on very thin ice with every single person in the room. So instead of cracking a joke or pretending everything was peachy, he crawled over to the counter and pulled some paper towels off of it.

"Disinfectant's under the sink," Kirsten said hollowly as she began pulling the pancake ingredients out of the cupboard and fridge.

Seth cleaned up his mess as Kirsten quickly whipped up a stack of chocolate pancakes for Elena and brought them out to her, along with a glass of orange juice and some syrup. She was ready to walk back into the house when she felt Elena's hand tug on hers, asking her to sit with her. She felt bad leaving Sandy in there to deal with Ryan and Seth alone, but she knew she had Elena to worry about as well.

Kirsten only smiled as she sat down opposite Elena, wanting desperately to appear as though everything was okay. That didn't last long, though, as Elena asked, "Did Seth and Ryan get into a fight?" before shoving a forkful of pancake into her mouth.

Kirsten looked up, clearly caught off guard by the question, and paused. Her and Sandy had intended to keep the whole debacle from Elena, because she didn't need to know and really, what good would telling her do? But she was very perceptive and understandably curious and, Kirsten thought, maybe she deserved to know. "Something like that," she admitted quietly.

"Is that why you guys are angry with them?"

"That, among other things."

Elena nodded her head and chewed thoughtfully, clearly trying to make sense of everything in her head.

"Don't worry about it, sweetheart. It's just….teenager stuff."

"You guys looked really mad," she said sadly, setting her fork back on her plate.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we were…are angry, but it's not something you have to concern yourself with. I promise."

"I just…"

"…"

"Is this going to change anything? With Ryan and me?"

Realization hit Kirsten like a ton of bricks and she quickly placed her hand on top of Elena's, who had a troubled frown on her face.

"Sweetie, no, of course not. Why would you think something like that?"

"Because we've both put you guys through so much and–"

"That's what being parents are all about, sweetheart." Kirsten said softly and kissed her cheek. "We love you and Ryan so much, you are our kids now. Nothing is ever going to change that."

Elena smiled as she could truly believe the words Kirsten were saying. "Okay mommy." She Said as she continued to eat. "These are really good."

Kirsten smiled warmly at her. "Thanks sweetie."

OCOCOCOC

Ryan and Seth sat in the living room of the house waiting for their impending doom. Seth turned to Ryan, and with an ashamed looked on his face.

"Ry, man I am so, so sorry for what I said last night. I didn't mean it." Seth said, about to start groveling for his forgiveness.

Ryan looked at his hands which were folding together. "It's okay Seth."

"No, no it's not okay. I really, really made you mad, and I do not think those things, at _all._" Seth explained.

Ryan nodded. "Seth look, I know. I swear I know you didn't mean it. I'm not mad anymore okay. I'm sorry I punched you."

Seth laughed. "Dude it's totally fine, I mean I would have done the exact same thing if I was in your position last night. Hell I woulda kicked my own ass!"

Ryan couldn't help but chuckle as Seth did as well. Seth extended his hand to Ryan. "Friends?"

Ryan nodded shaking his hand. "No, brothers." He smiled.

Seth wore a goofy grin on his face as Sandy walked in, a belt in his hand. "Well it's so good to see you boys making up."

"Of course, we're brothers, we'll always make up." Seth said then his eyes grew wide when he saw the thick leather belt that was limp in his father's fist.

"Well that's great, but we still have an issue to address." Sandy said smugly. "Well we already had the discussion part, mind as well just get the punishment over with shall we?"

Seth and Ryan nodded nervously. Ryan's head snapped up when Sandy started speaking to him. "Ryan, go stand over there in the corner please while I handle Seth first."

Ryan chuckled but then saw his face. "R-really? Sandy, I'm 16, I can't stand in the corner."

Sandy crossed his arms and raised his eye brows. "You can and you will." Was all he said which made Ryan jump up and rush to the corner, letting out a light huff.

"Seth, stand up, drop your pants to your boxers and bend over the back of the couch." Sandy ordered as he folded the belt in half. Seth didn't think twice about arguing. He gulped but obeyed gripping the couch cushions as he waited for the first swat.

Without hesitation Sandy cocked his arm back and landed the belt in the middle of his behind making him cry out. He repeated but making the swat just a little lower than the first blow. He repeated it for about a good 20 or so licks until he really felt that Seth was remorseful. Once he finished he hung the belt over the back of the couch and told Seth to pull his pants up. Once his pants were up, Sandy guided Seth in his arms and hugged him as Seth just cried in his shoulder. "I'm so, so sorry dad!" Seth sobbed. "Shh son, it's okay now." He whispered in his ear rubbing circles on his back. After a few moments he pulled away from Seth. "Okay bud, I want you to switch places with Ryan."

A teary eyes, and very sorry Seth nodded and stood in the same corner Ryan just was. Ryan was visibly nervous for this punishment. It has been a very long time since he had felt the belt. Sandy could tell his new son was nervous, he put his hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. "It'll be over and okay soon Ryan."

Ryan nodded as he saw Sandy go for the belt again. "Same thing, Pants down, just your boxers and bend over the couch please."

Ryan obeyed, he was bouncing slightly, being nervous; but he stopped when Sandy put a gentle hand on his back. Sandy cocked his hand back and brought the belt down in the middle of his behind like he did with Seth. As with Seth though, Ryan didn't cry out right away he just let out a slight grunt. Then the second, third and fourth came and his bottom was on fire! Tears stung his eyes and he choked on a dry sob. By the 15th swat he was crying and hoping that it will be over soon. At the 18th lick, Ryan broke. "I'm sorry! Dad I'm so sorry!" Well that right there told Sandy that Ryan was definitely remorseful and could tell he was truly sorry. He couldn't help but smile though at the fact that he called him 'dad'. He told him to pull his pants up. Once his pants were up Sandy took him in a strong embrace as Ryan cried. "shh Ryan, it's okay now. Shh."

Ryan calmed down and looked at Sandy, sniffling. "I-I'm sorry I called you dad." He said blushing, looking away.

Sandy guided his chin up to look at him "Hey, Ryan, you are my son now. And I am so honored that you feel you can call me dad. So do not apologize, okay?" He smiled.

Ryan gave him a smiled of relief and just hugged him again. 'Thank you."

Sandy smiled and patted his back and pulled apart. "Okay Seth you can come out. You two have been punished and all is forgiven, but if this ever happens again, you two will be grounded on top of being spanked on your bare bottom, understood?"

"Yes sir." The boys acknowledged in unison.

Kirsten walked in the room smiling with a very happy Elena. "Someone here wants to have a family day." Kirsten announced smiling down at Elena.

"Yeah! And we can start in the pool!" Elena jumped excitedly.

Ryan smiled down at his sister who he hasn't seen so happy in a very long time. "Yeah, sounds good, the cool water shall feel good." He chuckled and started making his way to the pool house to change.

Seth was pumped. "Sweet I'll go change." He said and passed Elena giving her a high five on his way to his room.

"Daddy do you think you can make burgers tonight on the grill!?" Elena asked with a big smile.

"Of course I can." Sandy smiled.

"Yay!1" Elena cheered and ran up to her room to get changed.

Kirsten walked to Sandy and wrapped her arms around him. "I love you so much."

Sandy kissed the top of her head. "I love you too, Kirsten." He smiled.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Okay so I had a really good chapter going, and when I went to work on it some more, most of it was gone! So Im sorry if this chapter sucks, I'm just not thrilled about having to rewrite what I wrote before. So this chapter may be a bit shorter and choppy. Oh and Caitlyn will be in this story, but as Caitlyn Roberts, Summer's cousin, not Caitlyn Cooper.

**Saturday, A Week before school starts**

It was around 10:00am on Saturday morning when Kirsten went in Elena's room. She smiled to herself seeing the little girl sleeping so soundly. She quietly walked over to the bed and stroked her hair out of her face and gently kissed her temple. "Elena honey," she whispered rubbing her back tenderly.

Elena groaned slightly stirring in her sleep. She rolled over on her back and opened her eyes for a second then groaned throwing the covers over her head.

Kirsten couldn't help but chuckle. "Sweetie; I woke your brothers, we're going to go out to breakfast, then we will be going to the mall for school shopping. We'll be leaving really shortly. Please get ready."

Elena was kind of excited for a new school, but at the same time really, really nervous. She didn't know anyone her age, she didn't know if she would fit in, or if anyone would like her. But she was hungry and really wanted to go shopping. That's something she hasn't had the chance to do yet before the school year starts; going shopping with her mom, but now she can say she did. Normally it was Trey that took her and Ryan, but when Trey got arrested, it was just Ryan who took her. It's different though, going shopping with your mom and going shopping with your brother. Elena smiled and pulled the covers down from her face. "Okay mommy, I'll be down really soon."

"Okay baby." She kissed her forehead and left the room to let the girl get dressed.

Elena hopped out of her bed and skipped to her closet. She pulled out her Wallflower Dark Wash Belted Bermuda shorts and her grey PIECES Kitsa Animal top. She pulled out her white Garden Garland sandals and her black metal, etched Bracelets. She threw her hair into a cute messy bun and skipped downstairs. She walked into the kitchen where everyone was having a conversation. "Good morning!" She smiled and she ran to Sandy hugging him. "Daddy are you coming shopping too?"

Sandy smiled and kissed the top of her head. He loved that she calls him daddy. "I'm sorry honey, I have to go into work, but when we all get back, I was thinking we can go see a movie." He smiled.

Elena smiled wide and nodded "that sounds fun!"

"Yes it does but I'm so hungry can we go?" Seth smiled; the boys who didn't really care if they got knew clothes for school; were just ready to leave. They were more excited about the food then the shopping.

****At the Mall****

The boys had done their clothes shopping first. They were much quicker and easier to shop for as they didn't really care what clothes they got. The boys were sitting in the chairs in the 'Deb shop' as their little sister and mom were looking for clothes for her.

Seth smiled when he saw Summer walk in the store with her cousin Caitlyn. Caitlyn was only two years older than Elena, making her 11. Seth stood up, and walked to Summer giving her a kiss on her cheek. "Hey baby, I didn't know you were going to be here."

Summer smiled. "Yeah, I decided to take Caitlyn shopping for school. Is Lena here?"

Ryan laughed "no we decided to do some shopping at the deb for ourselves."

Just then Elena skipped over to them. 'Summer!" She smiled throwing her arms around the teen.

"Hey Lena. I want you to meet someone." She smiled looking at her cousin. "Caitlyn this is Elena, Elena this is my cousin Caitlyn."

Caitlyn smiled. "Hey Elena. Summer told me a lot about you. She said we would make great friends."

Elena smiled shyly. "Th-that's cool." She whispered.

Kirsten smiled. "I'm sorry to break this up so quickly, but we need to check out and head out to get some supplies for school. But summer, Caitlyn you two are welcome over later tonight."

Both young girls squealed and Ryan smiled at his little sister. He was so thrilled at he can finally see a genuine smile on her face. This new life of theirs is just what they needed.

After they check out the mountain of clothes, shoes and accessories, they were headed out to the Range Rover.

"Thanks mom." The three kids said in unison as they got in the car.

"My pleasure kids." She smiled. "So I was thinking we can have burgers and hot dogs on the grill tonight?"

"Oh yeah! So much fun!" Elena smiled.

"Mom…" Seth said looking up from his phone; "Summer just texted and asked if Caitlyn could sleep over tonight with Elena. According to Summer, Caitlyn wouldn't shut up about it until she asked." He chuckled.

"I don't see why not. Elena are you okay with this?" she asked looking back at her daughter.

Elena looked apprehensive at Ryan; but he just gave her a nod. "it will be fun Lena."

Elena smiled slightly and nodded. "Okay yeah. It will be my first sleepover."

"It will be fun!" Kirsten smiled. "Seth tell Summer, I said yes."

****OCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOC****

Two hours have passed and the four of them were on their way home after completing all their shopping. They ran into some traffic, and Elena wasn't gonna have it. She was hot, hungry and tired. She just wanted to get home, and get ready for the sleep over and take a nap. She huffed taking off her seatbelt which she hates wearing, and threw her legs over Ryan's lap.

"Elena seatbelt." Ryan warned gently pushing her legs off his.

"Ry, we're not even moving!" she whined.

Kirsten turned around to put a stop to it right away. "Elena Nicole Atwood-Cohen, you will put your seatbelt on right now, or I will come back there and make sure the seatbelt isn't the only thing that's going to be uncomfortable. Understood?"

Elena pouted but nodded. "Yes ma'am. But I hate it!" she slammed the seatbelt in the holder.

"I know, but it keeps you safe, and you better lose the attitude, right now. First, and last warning." Kirsten turned back around as the traffic started to move. "See we're moving now."

Elena stayed quiet for the rest of the ride home. Once she pulled in the drive way, Elena hopped out and grabbed her bags and skipped to the door. Once Kirsten unlocked the door Elena ran up to her bedroom and put the bags on her bed.

*******OCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCOC*******

Kirsten just sent out a text to Sandy, to stop at the grocery store on the way home for burgers and hot dogs and some other slumber party snacks.

Elena came back down in yellow cotton shorts and a white tank top. She grabbed an apple and sat at the counter. "I'm sorry about what happened in the car mom." She took a bite of the apple.

Kirsten who smiled, kissed her temple. "It's okay baby."

"Well I'm going to take a nap. I don't want to be grouchy for the slumber party tonight!" Elena smiled and hopped off the stool and ran out of the room.

Kirsten smiled watching the excited little girl and turned back to making coffee.


End file.
